Feynman (wikipedia) wonders in this piece about what makes science science. He manages to argue quite well why he doesn’t think psychology and the social sciences are.
I’d offer that very good minds can practice psychology…people with deep experience and wisdom and understanding. Psychology obviously has value to many, many people… and also makes deep metaphysical arguments about the world and our understanding of it…yet… as Feynman rather effectively argues…it’s just not a science.
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I should also note that Feynman bristled at philosophers endlessly philosophizing about the nature of scientific knowledge, and who often are looking to borrow what they can from it to bolster their own metaphysical theories about the world.
Here’s a quote from Roger Scruton’s book (pg 50) on Immanuel Kant, one of the deeper philosophers:
“Scientific explanation depends upon principles of method: being presupposed in scientific enquiry, these principles cannot be proved through it. Kant believed that such principles would be reflected in basic scientific laws; and it is one of the tasks of metaphysics to provide grounds for their acceptance.“
Metaphysics will love you not…but at least philosophy can potentially recognize some of its shortcomings against such measure.
See Also: Karl Popper’s metaphysical theory on much the same subject: Falsifiability
Also On This Site: From 3 Quarks Daily: Richard Feynman Talks About A Pool And A Not-So-Pretty Girl…Elizabeth Spelke On Bloggingheads: Towards A Coalitional Mathematics?
chr1
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Interesting question – I’m not up to date on my definitions of science – or psychology for that matter; however, I have been working with some professional and medically trained people on ‘proper’ ed stuff and the personal experience that I viewed as totally unique has actually followed a predicted course. With hindsight and insight, I can see that my decline, experience and, particularly, recovery from an eating disorder has followed a clear model and, whilst this isn’t science necessarily, it confirms the value of this kind of thinking – I just wish I’d encountered it at the beginning rather than the end of the journey.
Comment by Finding Melissa — November 7, 2009 @ 2:27 am |
Melissa, thanks for reading and for the the comment.
Comment by chr1 — November 7, 2009 @ 10:03 am |