Scientific and Lay Knowledge 1 Scientific and Lay Knowledge: The ...

Scientific and Lay Knowledge 5
to ethical dilemmas. Science seems to pervade all aspects of our lives, while lay knowledge is
often viewed as illegitimate without scientific verification and ownership. There is a top-down
approach to acquiring and presenting knowledge in which scientists and associated bureaucrats
are at the top and the public the bottom. This does not leave room for the input of local and
indigenous peoples’ knowledge in research and decision-making (Backstrand, 2003, p. 29). Lay
knowledge can lack the fundamental scope and intricate details that one acquires through
scientific practice, as well as an understanding of hypothesizing and experimental design useful
in problem-solving and critical thinking. However, laypeople are too often seen as ignorant and
unequal, and this aids heavily in creating the divide between the scientific and lay communities.
What is most interesting is the epistemological analysis of scientific knowledge,
especially as it is viewed by higher learning institutions. Scientific knowledge is seen as being of
higher quality than everyday knowledge because of its systematized character in accumulating
information. This leads to the question of whether one form of knowledge can be privileged over
another. Science is a process of asking questions and building upon or disproving existing ideas.
This is just like any other form of human knowing—riddled with mistakes. Claiming that science
can be universally applied to the world would mean it must be accepted in every aspect of the
world, but plenty of people and cultures do not accept scientific explanations for certain things.
Science can only be objective if it applies to everyone, but marginalized groups, whether women,
socio-economically poor people, or indigenous people, often distrust scientific inquiries and
findings. This distrust can stem from the wrong-doings of the states the scientists represent, the
inability of laypeople to make sense of scientific knowledge culturally, or simply a lack of
communication and involvement of the marginalized group. Placing too much emphasis in
scientific knowledge further hinders the formation of an adaptable, multi-faceted knowledge.