Human dignity vs. scientism.This is in response to Michael J. Hanson's "Toward a New Assumption in Law and Ethics" in the July/August 2006 Humanist. The author states that his new ethics (as based on determinism) will make the treatment of criminals respect their "human dignity Human dignity is an expression that can be used as a moral concept or as a legal term. Sometimes it means no more than that human beings should not be treated as objects. Beyond this, it is meant to convey an idea of absolute and inherent worth that does not need to be acquired and ." But how can one be said to have "dignity" if one doesn't have agency? If one isn't free to choose right or wrong it seems rather silly to designate dignity. Dignity, as such, arises from our ability to freely choose for ourselves. We don't assign plants or bacteria dignity, in part due to their lack of choice or creativity. Determinism is a symptom of scientism sci·en·tism n. 1. The collection of attitudes and practices considered typical of scientists. 2. The belief that the investigative methods of the physical sciences are applicable or justifiable in all fields of inquiry. , meaning it presupposes that science is complete and truthful, because nothing of human experience can lie outside of the realm of materialistic science. This assumes that science as method can lead to certainty (dubious in the emergent realms of psychology and cognitive science cognitive science Interdisciplinary study that attempts to explain the cognitive processes of humans and some higher animals in terms of the manipulation of symbols using computational rules. ), which is an arguable ar·gu·a·ble adj. 1. Open to argument: an arguable question, still unresolved. 2. That can be argued plausibly; defensible in argument: three arguable points of law. premise. This inherent scientism has the foul smell of latent positivism positivism (pŏ`zĭtĭvĭzəm), philosophical doctrine that denies any validity to speculation or metaphysics. Sometimes associated with empiricism, positivism maintains that metaphysical questions are unanswerable and that the only , a view already undermined by thinkers such as Ludwig Wittgenstein. Science ignores the transcendental existence of freedom and the self. Andrew C. Conlon Phoenix, AZ |
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