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Science is political & non-PhDs are scientists: Our postmodern world

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EDIT: Actually there's good reason to be suspicious of some science -- like the unreliability of social sciences and biomedical research, in terms of the success rate of replicating the results of the original studies. But that's got little to do with science being a deliberate white male conspiracy for power grabbing and subjugation / manipulation of other cultures, and eradication of non-Western worldviews / beliefs.

https://www.acsh.org/news/2018/07/12/our...ists-13189

EXCERPT: . . . What about people who don't have PhD's? Are they scientists, too? In any world in which credentials matter, the answer is no. [...] Just like getting an MD or a JD is a prerequisite to being called a doctor or a lawyer, in general, getting a PhD in the natural sciences is the prerequisite to being called a scientist. Apparently, that rather commonplace observation is controversial in 2018. But first, the backstory.

The topic came up on Twitter, the world's foremost outlet for intellectual discourse. Writer and historian Audra Wolfe, who holds a PhD in the history of science, posted this bizarre tweet: "Science has always been political."

Actually, no, it hasn't [...] The scientific method is designed specifically to root out bias and false assumptions, including political ones. Sure, individual scientists can be political, but the scientific method is not. Its ideological agnosticism is why it works so well. In fact, the self-correcting nature of science means it is the best source of secular knowledge that humankind possesses.

However, Dr. Wolfe's characterization of science is precisely in line with the historical revisionist, postmodernist view: Science is just one opinion among many. Actually, it's worse than that. Science is a system of oppression designed by white, heterosexual men. Science should be treated suspiciously.

As evidence of her belief that science is political, Dr. Wolfe pointed to its "role in weapons production, surveillance, and regulating populations." But this is a red herring. It is akin to arguing that knives are inherently political because they were used to kill Julius Caesar. [...]

The purposeful conflation of science with the people who (mis)use it is standard postmodernist dreck....

MORE: https://www.acsh.org/news/2018/07/12/our...ists-13189
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