The Role Of Science in Democracies - Should All Truths Be Equally Considered?

 

Photo: The Hedgehog Review

Scientific Authority and the Democratic Narrative

Jason Blakely

Fall 2020

The Hedgehog Review

The essay above has some merit but I think some of its claims go a bit far. The statement "the various voices that advance various [moral] goods must be given a fair hearing" is one.

Another is "When it comes to the stories informing public policy in a democracy, scientists and nonscientists, experts and laypeople, must be on equal footing.

Batshittery, TV punditry, conspiracy theories, disinformation, intelligent design, theology, medical quackery must all stand on an equal footing with science, reason, and humaneness as learned from history, anthropology, and philosophy in forging the way forward in a democracy?

I think this is a large part of the reason humankind is in the paralyzing dilemma, confusion, and peril it is presently in. The widespread public misinterpretation of cultural relativity and false equivalence are being used by the wealthy and powerful to sow confusion via various media; and in our state of confusion the purveyors of such succeed in commandeering the leadership of society. This is the real power grab that is bringing modernity and the Enlightenment project to an end, not an overreach of science.  The political scientist author of this essay is lending a hand in this degenerative cultural evolution.

They say the best defense is a good offense. Sometimes. These days a good offense is one that confuses you with contradictions and disinformation and has you paralyzed from arguing with yourself and others. In this catatonic state people are more easily controlled and led.

This goes to something I try to address in my book in progress and in my upcoming Owl & Ibis - A Confluence of Minds presentation on Counterculture, Part II - Counterculture Futures Revisited. That being the problem of trying to fix our problems by relying mostly on science, technology, politics, and economics. And the problem of making a better future being impossible without some measures (values) for deciding on what we as living beings want to become other than what we are now, and how we should best treat each other on our way there. More dog-eat-dog, übernationalist, capitalism won't lead us out of our mess.

Some new and improved human relational "oughts" and "shoulds" are needed to guide our science, politics, economics going forward. Debate, engagement, democracy, empathy, pluralism (tolerance) are not enough. Politics, governance, the economy, technology are means, not ends. But they all are hollow and without power if not animated by something cultural. Moral philosophy and social science need to finally up their game; that is, suit up and enter the culture content playing field. In the Ethnosphere there are many "goods" (beliefs, values, practices) we have learned from experience. Again, the so-called "goods" dog-eat-dog, übernationalist libertarian capitalism are not among them. We have proven that these "goods" are ethnocidal and geocidal despite the material progress they have brought humankind. One line in my upcoming O&I presentation describes the problem many in the US do not want to acknowledge: Those who control culture and counterculture, control society. 

The is/ought debate? Out, out damned Hume! Yes, science has a role to play in establishing broad cultural values where members of all societies can find common ground for creating a better future for all. In fact, science may be our only hope of finding solutions amid the din of value confusion, competing ideologies and ideas, and escaping from the determining clutches of the wealthy and powerful. See here.

The future depends on the cultures we create - the ideas, beliefs, values, and ways of behaving we craft now to animate, to humanize our future politics, economics, technology, and social institutions and functions. Leaving the cultural content of the future we envision to the powerful and wealthy, economists, political scientists, theologians, and journalists has led to where we are today - rapidly approaching an economic, ecological dead end.