Scientism and Values.pdf - Ludwig von Mises Institute

250 Scientism and Values
v
Before outlining a few of the possible consequences of the
kind of approach to the study of society which has been discussed,
it should be useful to summarize three of its crucial assumptions:
(1) The only significant order of social reality is the one inherently
susceptible to· empirical verification, to factor analysis, and physicomathematical
reduction; (2) the pursuit of knowledge manifests
itself in the enactment of norms which inhere in the pursuit
itself; and (3) it is. the function of the scientist to master a natureincluding
man and society-which is devoid of purposes, intelligible
and communicable by man.
What are these assumptions likely to imply?
If it is held that orders of reality other than those amenable to
reduction to functional terms are merely subjective ones, conjectures
about social institutions and policies not susceptible to
empirical verification tend to be disparaged. Such speculation,
considered untrustworthy, is contrasted to that whose objectivity,
empirically confirmed, justifies action along lines making for the
functionalization of the subject matter of social science. In this
process, social science goes to work in the public arena on the
basis of decisive assumptions-assumptions posited as if there
were no alternatives to them-which those affected by its action
do not share in formulating.
To the extent that the research is theory-oriented, all that is
involved is constructing frameworks presuming to embrace variables
of significance; to the extent that it is oriented toward the
solution of practical problems, it seeks. to attain and perpetuate
the final good of social harmony. Both orientations tend to cooperate
in integrating dysfunctional forces, in curing social and
individual ills.
Contribution to the body of science requires instituting that
state of unity within which all particulars are truly related. This
quest is not one for reflective understanding of the nature of the
social world, but one for bringing history to its terminus by
resolving historical conflicts in practice.