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p. 1117. Scientism versus Obscurantism: Avoiding the traditional predicament in philosophylocked

  • Simon Critchley

Abstract

‘Scientism versus Obscurantism: Avoiding the traditional predicament in philosophy’ argues that from a Continental perspective, the adoption of scientism in philosophy fails fundamentally to see the role that science and technology play in the alienation of human beings from the world. Scientism rests on the fallacious claim that the theoretical or natural scientific way of viewing things provides the primary and most significant access to ourselves and our world. However, anti-scientism does not entail an anti-scientific attitude. Rather, it argues that the practices of the natural sciences arise out of life-world practices, and that life-world practices are not simply reducible to natural scientific explanation.

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