think about a principle like this: "All people are created equal." now what does that mean? is science going to help you figure out what it means? and then if it did somehow, what experiments or observations would bear it out or falsify it? but, on the other hand, is it a presupposition of the social science that you're doing? if you measure the effectiveness of a policy by the increased welfare of those affected, or even just display the data you've gathered, do you count some of these people more than others? or does each one = 1, whether they're white or black, male or female? see: a social vision or theory far in excess to anything science could pronounce on is built in at the base of every sociological study.
this is not merely to press the fact/value distinction. what is it like to be a bat? is the principle of non-contradiction true? does 2+3 = 5? does barack love michelle? how do you throw a pot? lays or pringles? which way will the plot of this film twist next? only a complete doink takes such questions to Science.
the problem isn't science, it's scientism: "Science" as the only source of truth. the sources of truth are many and varied, from flashes of intuition to a priori conceptual exploration to aesthetic experience. i guess you could try to explain *those* things as brain states etc. that wouldn't tend to show whether what they yield up is true or false, for example, even if you could make some progress.
and the social sciences are just by and large completely disingenuous attempts to manipulate people. you can study students' progress scientifically through standardized tests. really? what do you mean by "knowledge"? an entire normative orientation is built into the very idea of a standardized testing regime, or in a diagnosis of depression, or in a model for achieving economic recovery. the facts bear on these things, but that the procedure is scientific is just wrong or a rationalization for actual exercise of power, and an offloading of it: it's not me saying this, or even doing this to you: it's...Science!
and also i would say this deal where you have to choose between science and religion, reason and faith, fact and fantasy, obama and palin, is just jive. no one gets along in this world without constantly reasoning and without constantly believing things for which he has no reasons.
what's actually disturbing is the way Science serves power: the way people purport that whatever policies they think should be in place are not their own doing but that of Reality. obama actually takes this tack constantly, like his forebears john kerry and al gore. and i think you see that it has its limits as a leadership style; where's the passion etc? hey that's not even you talking, by your own account. it's, um, experts. someone who is that incapable of taking responsibility for their own opinions and their own attacks on your autonomy should never be listened to about anything.
we had better think about the epistemic hierarchy we are constructing. if all the truth is held by harvard professors and none by persons of other sorts, then of course you could ignore tea partiers or merely ridicule them. for one thing, all the harvard professors are leftists. however, you probably have no more stable grasp on the deliverances of particle physics or brain scanning than the rankest tea partier, so you don't know anything either. all you do is recite what these people say they know. it takes a lot of gaul to go from that sort of position to the amazing conclusion that Science exclusively determines truth and all other values. but i tell you that the structure i've just described is a religion.
