Is Science The Only Way of Knowing?

 This is continuation of a debate from YouTube.

The statement that “Science is the only way of knowing” is correct. But it is also arrogant.

The definition of knowledge that we are working with is “justified belief of independent rational observers”. What I argue in the video is that independent rational observers can come to different justified beliefs when it comes to social science where the observations are made about human behavior. I gave the examples of economics, politics. That when two independent rational observers look at the “market” one comes up with socialism and the other with capitalism. That there is no way for science to figure out which of them is the “truth”. And that this lack of convergence on one justified belief is what makes the argument “science is the only way of knowing” break down.

But using “logic” (which can also be called scientific method) is the only way for humans to know anything, and that’s right. Those who defy the commonly accepted “logic”s are considered psychotic by human beings.

Where is the arrogance? The arrogance is in claiming that “science is the only way of knowing” when it is clear that there are very severe limitations for science when it comes to the field of social science. A society cannot be subjected to controlled experiments. What science requires to arrive at the truth, to “know” how a human society will function is a set of observations from which one can draw conclusions. It is impossible for human beings to perform this set of observations in the way that’s required to correctly draw such conclusions and “know” the human society. And that is the fundamental limitation of science.

To claim that theoretically it is possible to isolate all the variables and test a hypothesis about human beings – that’s useless at best, and politically inappropriate at the worst.

In the video I try to keep physics, chemistry, etc from the uncertainty about truth that I introduce. But in response to the video Pirate Bady brought up the argument that ‘single’ truth does not exist in even physics. That quantum mechanics, for example, has infinite truths with different probabilities.

I don’t know quantum physics. I have no perfect idea how exactly Schrödinger’s cat is a paradox. Which is why I omitted talking about this in the video.

But if physics is also observer dependent, then that’s another argument which weakens the idea that “science is the only way of knowing”. That multiple truths can exist and we won’t be able to come to a single truth translates to the idea that – “we cannot know certain things”. 

From that it can be argued that if there is a way to know it is only through science and consequently, “science is the only way of knowing”. And that’s a big if clause.

If there is a way to know, science is the only way

I can stand by that statement.

Because it admits that there are times where we cannot “know”. Be it quantum physics, be it politics or public policy. That’s a humble statement. That’s a statement which accepts the limits of science. That is a statement which gives space for “other” ways of “knowing”.

The only argument against giving space to these “other” ways is that it can lead to irrational thinking in human beings. And I think that’s the argument Dr Viswanathan makes too. And I think that’s also the reason why science has not been able to win people over despite so many accomplishments it has had. That science fails to acknowledge what is fundamentally human. That science, in its ivory tower, arrogantly believes that all that the world needs is science. 

If only more rational thinkers admitted that there are times when humans can’t know and that science has no role in such times, we can then start negotiating with irrational people and push them to use science in all the places that matters.

Yes, that means that we will have to tell them that science cannot tell them whether there exists a God or not. But that’s okay. By accepting a humble position like that, you make science more welcoming to all humans. It is by being arrogant that you drive them away.