Nature Of Science

 

Is methodological reductionism being turned into ideological reductionism? It might be okay, for scientific purposes, to reduce a human being to genes an DNA molecules, but that does not mean human beings are ultimately “nothing but” genes and molecules. Interestingly enough, the power of genetics—reducing the complexity of reality to the simplicity of genetic models—is at the very same time also its weakness of no longer being able to do justice to the complexity behind its simplified models.

 Are there any limitations to science?

Science has many limitations. Because all sciences use their own models, they are “blind” for what does not fit into their models. Each model is based on its own assumptions and refers to its own kinds of causes and boundary conditions. Each model is only a surrogate for “the real thing”. The only model that could ever qualify as a perfect replica of the original is the original itself. Therefore, scientists of the different areas or fields of science have a very selective approach; everything outside their scope is on their “blind spot,” because they neglect what they did not select. Physicists, for instance, only use a “physical eye” to capture the physical parts of this world; chemists have a “chemical eye”; and geneticists see everything with a “genetic eye.” But let us not forget that physics cannot capture everything, neither can genetics. Arguably, even all sciences combined cannot capture all there is, for they only capture what can be measured and counted.

 To gain access to the huge domain of all that counts but cannot be counted, measured, or quantified, we need more than a “scientific eye.” Let me mention a few examples. Just like the “physical eye” sees colors in nature, so the “artistic eye” sees beauty in nature, the “rational eye” sees truths and untruths, the “moral eye” sees rights and wrongs, and the “religious eye” sees a spiritual dimension in life. All these different “eyes” are in search of reality, but each one “sees” a different aspect of it. Even astronomers do not deal with the universe in in its entirety, but only with its physical aspects.

Consequently there are also many kind of blindness.

Reality is like a jewel with many facets; you can look at it from various angles, with different eyes, from perspectives. What you choose to neglect you cannot just reject.