From science wars to science worries

some reflections on the scientific conquest of reality

Johannes Roggenhofer

pp. 293-305

in: Martin Carrier, Johannes Roggenhofer, Günter Küppers, Philippe Blanchard (eds), Knowledge and the world, Berlin, Springer, 2004

Abstract

The Science Wars are taken to have more significance than just that of exposing unbecoming metaphors. The relation between science, reality, and social practice is seen as the core problem of the debate. Neither relativism nor realism have come up with satisfactory solutions to the problem. It is argued that science has a special relation to reality, making its results partially independent of social practice. This relation isolates the part of reality it investigates, thereby constituting this part as non-intentional nature. Which phenomena belong to the domain of science in the end is a matter of social acceptance and not of scientific discovery. Science cannot claim to be the ultimate judge of reality in general. It is a particular generator of knowledge and orientation besides others like the humanities, art, or religion which have their own creative forces.