Ideology And Science - Beliefs In Society

While science has solved many problems such as vaccination for diseases it has created problems such as global warming

Where every scientists theories are open to scrutiny, criticisms and testing by others. Science is governed by the principle of falsificationism - Scientists deliberately try to disprove theories. If a theory is found to be false, it is discarded and research continues for a better theory.

Scientists knowledge is cumulative where it builds on the achievements of previous scientists to develop greater theories.

Science can always be criticised, tested and proved wrong and so there is no absolute truth.

Science can only thrive as a major source institution, if it receives support from other institutions and values.

He argues, this first occurred as a result of the attitudes of Puritanism where there belief was that the study of nature led to an appreciation of God's work led them to experiments. Puritanism also stressed social welfare and that technology could improve social conditions.

The new institution of science also received funding from military, and economic institutions.

That science is an institution like others which need an Ethos.

Communism where no scientific knowledge is private but shared to ensure knowledge can grow and be tested.

Universalism - the truth or falsify of scientific knowledge is judge by universal objective criteria.

Disinterestedness - Being committed to discovering knowledge for its own sake. Having to publish findings makes it harder for scientists to practice fraud.

Organised Scepticism - No knowledge claim is regarded as sacred - open to questioning

Religion is sacred, perfect and absolute truth - This means it cannot be challenged. Also means religion knowledge does not change as it is already absolute truth and therefore it is fixed and does not grow.

Similar to Popper where science is open system and religion is closed where it cannot be questioned and if it is, religion has a number of devices that reinforces the system and prevent it to be disproved - at least in the eye of the believers.

The Azande believe in natural events have natural causes but they do not believe in coincidence. For example, a snake biting them while walking down a path which I have walked down many times but never been bitten. So why now?

They blame it on witchcraft where the injured party makes their accusation against the suspected witch of which is resolved by consulting the Prince's Magic poison oracle. The prince diviners would administrate benge (poison) to a chicken and should the accused be guilty, tell the Benge to kill the chicken for if the answer is yes. The sufferer would then go out and publicly demand the witch craft to stop.

Clear the air and prevents grudges from festering.

Encourages neighbours to behave considerately towards each other under fear of accusation.

The azande believe witchcraft to be hereditary and so children vested interest in keeping there parents in line.

Important for social control.

It is highly resistant to challenge.

For example, non believer might argue that if the benge kills the chicken before the diviner has the chance to ask the question, the oracle did not work but the Azande argue that it is just bad benge.

The believers are trapped within their idom of belief or way of thinking.

Circularity - Each idea in the system is explained in terms of another idea in the system and so on - round and round.

Subsidiary explanations - For example, if the oracle fails it may be explained as due to incorrect use of benge.

Denial of legitimacy to rivals - Belief systems reject world views by refusing to grant any legitimacy to their basic assumptions.

Polanyi argues that all beliefs systems reject fundamental challenges to their knowledge claims - science is no difference.

Khun argues that a mature science such as geology, biology or physics is based on a set of shared assumptions that he calls paradigms. Paradigms tell scientist what reality is like, what problems to study, methods to use and even what answers they should find.

However, when any scientists challenges the paradigm as Velikovsky did, the scientific community ridiculed and hounded him out of the profession. Scientific community no longer regard him as a scientists.

The only exception to this is during the scientific revolution when faith in the truth of the paradigm has already been undermined by an accumulation of anomalies.

Develop Kuhn's idea further where they argue that scientific knowledge is socially constructed. That is rather than being the objective truth, it is created by social groups using the resources available to them. Scientific facts are tjinhs that scientists take to be true and real - product of shared theories or paradigms that tell them what they expect to see.

That the invention of new instruments permits scientists to make new observations or construct or fabricate new facts.

Similarly, when scientists study in a lab, it is highly constructed as it is removed from the natural world that is it supposedly studying.

When confronted by evidence from observations, they decide what it means - they do so by devising and applying theories of explanation but they then have to persuade others to accept it.

For example, the discovery of pulsars - scientists initially labelled the pattern as LGM1, LGM2 standing for Little Green Man but recognising this was unacceptable from the viewpoint of the scientific community, they settled on the notion that the patterns represented the signals from a type of star unknown to space.

However, more than decade later, there was still a disagreement of what it shows.

As far from the pure truth - Regard it as serving the interests of the dominant groups.

Many advances in supposedly pure science has been driven by the need of capitalism to know certain knowledge. For example, the theoretical work on ballistics was the need to develop weaponry.

Some biological ideas have been used to justify both male domination and colonial expansion

Science is a form ideology.

Lyotard argues science is one of many big meta narratives that falsely claim the truth. Science falsely claims to offer the truth about how the world works as a mean to progression to a better society where as in reality it is a way of thinking used to dominate people.

Science has become techno science as it simply serves as products for profit for capitalism

two classes where Marxim believes they would be a revolution

For the revolution to occur, the working class must first become concious of their exploitation - develop class consciousness. However the ruling class control the production of ideas which produces ruling class ideology - ides that legitimate the status quo.

Equality would never work since it goes against human nature.

Eventually, revolution will happen (Marx)

There is always a possibility of the rulling class hegemony to be overthrown

Society needs to create their own organic intellects - a body of workers organised into a revolutionary political party who are able to formulate an alternative vision of society.

My want to overthrow capitalism but fear to due to repression from state or unemployment. They may tolerate capitalism because they have no choice.

Sees all belief systems as partial or one sided view - oneside view occurs from being the viewpoint of one particular group of class.

Distinguishes between two broad types of belief systems: Ideological thought, Utopian thought.

The belief system of each class or group can only give us a partial truth of the world as it only represents the interests views.

Patriarchal ideology legitimises gender inequality.

Pauline Marks describes how science legitimises gender inequality in keeping women out of education - for example, in 19th century, doctors (males), scientist and educationalists expressed there view that educating women would lead to a creation of a new race of puny and unfeminine females and disqualify women from there true vocation

Higher education would, it was claimed result in women being unable to suckle infants.