this post was submitted on 10 Jan 2026
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Science Memes

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[–] Juice@midwest.social 102 points 1 month ago (6 children)

Science isn't an ontology, it's a method.

God, what no humanities does to a mf

[–] TempermentalAnomaly@lemmy.world 54 points 1 month ago

Reminded me of this.

[–] PunnyName@lemmy.world 28 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Exactly. I keep trying to get people to understand that it's a process, just like running is a process.

[–] 5715@feddit.org 2 points 1 month ago

I have the suspicion, once you're far enough in any field, you'll view as a process what colloquially is considered a binary state. You'll continue talking like it isn't a process, because you don't have the time to explain it all the time.

[–] zloubida@sh.itjust.works 25 points 1 month ago

And a method in which beliefs are important. Not the religious ones, of course, but there are other kinds of beliefs.

[–] preussischblau@lemmy.ca 15 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (3 children)

Believing that science yields universally true results or is the only method of finding truths, however, is an ontology and something you have to believe.

Edit: I'm not anti-science or anything, just a pedant.

[–] yesman@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago

Believing that science yields universally true results or is the only method of finding truths

You just described science as though it were a belief system. In reality, science has a presumption that your ideals are false, not true. And a person who could only discover truth through science wouldn't be able to dress or feed themselves.

[–] flora_explora@beehaw.org 1 points 1 month ago

I agree with the second part of that sentence, but who would think that they discover universal truths or any truths at all? The whole premise of science is that we cannot verify anything or find any real truth. We can just show that anything else is much more unlikely to be true.

[–] Neptr@lemmy.blahaj.zone -1 points 1 month ago

Here is a video by the channel Dr. Fatima (former astrophysicist) which I think has some intersection with this topic. I may have picked the wrong video though because I haven't watched it in months.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQdTmvqCgxI

[–] NeilBru@lemmy.world 6 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Scientism is the belief that science and the scientific method are the best or only way to render truth about the world and reality.

While the term was defined originally to mean "methods and attitudes typical of or attributed to natural scientists", some scholars, as well as political and religious leaders, have also adopted it as a pejorative term with the meaning "an exaggerated trust in the efficacy of the methods of natural science applied to all areas of investigation (as in philosophy, the social sciences, and the humanities)".

[–] yakko@feddit.uk 2 points 1 month ago

I saw this earlier and really wanted to pipe up, but I just couldn't bear it.