Lesson 13 –
The Role of Belief in Science

Belief is essential for the scientific project. Without belief in the integrity of the work of other scientists, in the right authority of teachers and advisors, in the orderliness and intelligibility of nature, and in the alignment between our reason and truth, there would be no science.

Course Reading

Aristotle’s Revenge: The Metaphysical Foundations of Physical and Biological Science, 114-116 | Edward Feser

The Modeling of Nature: Philosophy of Science and Philosophy of Nature in Synthesis, 275-277; 279 | Fr. William A. Wallace, O.P.

Excerpt from Aristotle’s Revenge by Edward Feser:

One need not endorse the more extreme relativist conclusions of some sociologists of science to see that there really is such a thing as the sociology of science – that scientists, like members of any other profession, inhabit communities which inculcate certain assumptions, practices, and norms, and that these assumptions, practices, and norms and the nature of their social inculcation can be identified and studied. Thomas Kuhn’s analysis (1962) famously deploys the notion of a “paradigm,” i.e. a set of ruling assumptions and standards of inquiry associated with a scientific theory, reflected in standard textbooks, etc. The training of a scientist essentially involves his initiation into a dominant paradigm, and ordinary scientific practice or “normal science” essentially involves the application of a paradigm to new problems, the attempt to resolve its outstanding problems, and so forth.

Course Listening

Blinded by Scientism? The Proper Role and Limits of Science in the Quest for Truth | Prof. Edward Feser

Related videos from earlier in the series

This episode was made possible through the support of a grant from the John Templeton Foundation. The opinions expressed in this project are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the John Templeton Foundation.