Scientism and Values.pdf - Ludwig von Mises Institute

10
The Psychopathology of Scientism
LUDWIG VON BERTALANFFY
10 The Epistemological Basis
Scientism and its epistemological root, positivism, either in
the original form given to it by Comte and his contemporaries
or as modem logical positivism, are not an invention of the scientists.
As Hayek 1 has admirably stated:
From Francis Bacon ... to August Comte, and the "physicalists" of
our own day, the claims for the exclusive virtues of the specific
methods employed by the natural sciences were mostly 'advanced
by men whose right to speak on behalf of the scientists were not above
suspicion ... The enthusiasm for physicism (it is now called physicalism)
and the use of "physical language," the attempt to "unify
science" and to make it the basis of morals ... the desire to organize
the work of others, particularly by editing a great encyclopedia and
the wish to plan life in general on scientific lines are all present [in
Saint-Simon's philosophy].
The present writer feels entitled to some criticism because he
himself came from the Vienna Circle, having been a pupil of its
founder, M. Schlick. The criticism proffered by Hayek may be
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