Faith in Science

The faith that society and individuals place in science emerged as an important issue not long after the Scientific Revolution, which (in Western society) began in the 16th century although some sources claim its beginnings can be seen in the 11th to 14th centuries). Early in the revolution, scientists were an isolated group who often found themselves at odds with the Roman Catholic church. Today, science and technology are an integral part of Western society. Scientists are, in general, trusted and respected by the public, and are rarely questioned. There are many possible sociological reasons for what could be described as an almost largely unquestioning faith in science and scientists.

In recent years, the debate between Intelligent Design theorists and evolutionists has raised important issues in the public arena, such as the demarcation of science from non-science or pseudoscience, the amount of confidence that can be placed in theories and how much confidence should be placed in science.

Possible reasons for public faith in science and scientists

Specialisation and expertise

Scientists in today's Western society are often extremely specialised in their own narrow fields. Members of the public can feel intimidated by this, feeling that someone who has studied a particular field unchallengeable. The democratisation of knowledge has not yet countered this.

Anti-intellectualism

In many societies there is a negative peer pressure, especially in educational institutions such as schools, that encourages an apathy towards the sciences. Science-based subjects are often perceived as undesirable, incomprehensible and unfashionable.

Apathy

One widely held view seems to be that science is for other, gifted people, and that the public should only be consumers of its ProgresS, not its critics. This view is compounded as technology advances. In today's world, computers can be seen as "black boxes" to the public: all the workings are hidden away, and a user-friendly interface means that users can operate computers with ease without having to actually understand any of the workings or principles behind the technology. This reinforces the conception that scientists are somehow special and enlightened, and that attempting to understand the technology would be pointless - a view that becomes more reasonable as technology progresses.

Misunderstanding of scientific method

The view that science is a way of discovering truth is hotly contested, and those scientists who believe that scientific theories probably represent reality are in the minority. The GeneRally held view, especially since the advent of quantum physics, is that of scientific antirealism: scientific theories provide predictive models, but are not representative of reality - they only seek to provide useful ways of thinking AbOUT the real world. This conceptualisation of science seems to indicate that scientists tend to have less faith in their theories than the public seem to.