The Conceptual Map of Scientism and Other Related Concepts

Modern science has a unique and undeniable role in the formation of a new western civilization. The success of this modern type of human inquiry in solving epistemological problems within the scope of its subject matter and its practical achievements in improving many aspects of human life gradually led to the formation of a doctrine that seeks to extend the boundaries of science and the scientific method to other fields of human knowledge or other aspects of human life. This doctrine is called "scientism".

The purpose of this article is to introduce a clear picture or conceptual schema of the doctrine of scientism, distinguish its different types clearly and ultimately propose an integrated or comprehensive version of that doctrine. It is claimed that this task only could be done completely by showing the relation of scientism with other related concepts. These concepts together make a family resemblance through which the claim of scientism could be understood rightly. So some other doctrine like Naturalism, Physicalism, Materialism, Reductionism, and Mechanism is also described briefly and finally focused on the synthesis of epistemic scientism and methodological naturalism.

According to the close correlation between scientism and the modern notion of science, this paper begins with the history of the generation and development of the idea of scientism and traces it back to the 17th century when modern science was generated. Then different types of scientism are formulated and the discussion of the types of scientism was ended up with a comprehensive definition. Epistemic scientism is declared as the comprehensive notion of scientism which claims that any true knowledge or genuine explanation should be gained through the method of science. In the next step, the main concepts related to this doctrine are listed and the similarities between them are stated, finally, naturalism proposes as the most important and modified version of the idea lies behind all these related concepts. So naturalism is analyzed carefully and the two branches of naturalism (i.e. Methodological Naturalism and Ontological or Metaphysical Naturalism) are distinguished and discussed. It is claimed that the hardcore scientific method is restricted by methodological naturalism that states the neutrality of scientific explanation according to supernatural entities. Methodological Naturalism takes the role of the regulatory principle for the scientific method.

it is summed up that scientism leads to impermissible expansion of science and cannot also make a suitable justification for science itself. Naturalism also ends up with an incomplete explanation for natural phenomena. The synthesis of scientism and naturalism also implies atheism and cannot be compatible with the theistic worldview. Also, we should not equate modern science and empirical knowledge or sense data. Modern science is a modified system that is based on some philosophical premises like naturalism. These premises are given a priory and as a dogma that also challenges the position of empirical knowledge.