Science is not omnipotent. With the considerable and continuing increase secular attitudes found in the western world many are turning to science to found their understanding of the universe around them. The key purpose of this article is to display that science doesn’t have all of the answers. This is by no means to say that science is unhelpful or incompetent, but that there are certain incredibly important components of society and rational belief that science simply can’t account for. There are certainly more, but I’ll list three that are properly important for a functioning civilization.
The first and possibly the most important is science’s presupposition of logic and mathematics. Logical and mathematical truths are means by which we determine and define the concept of proof, so to try to prove them using science can only result in fallacious circular reasoning. The only reason that we can use science for anything is because science takes logic and mathematics and presupposes them to be true, useful, and proper for separating truth from falsehood.
Second is less foundational to our understanding of the universe, but is a firmly held and perfectly rational concept of belief that science hasn’t even the slightest shred of empirical evidence for. This is the concept of metaphysics. Within metaphysics we find beliefs like “the external world is real” and “my mind is not the only mind that exists” and these beliefs are held to be objective truth by the grand majority of the thinking population. While the fundamental beliefs found in metaphysics aren’t necessarily thoughts designed to “prove” the nature of the the universe like those of mathematics they are a collection of thoughts and rationalizations we use to make considerations regarding the building blocks of being, identity, knowledge, and existence.
Lastly, but certainly not least is the very concept of objective moral standards. The Scientific Method cannot be used to make judgements of moral value and ethical goodness or evil. There is no scientific way to prove that Hitler’s Third Reich did anything morally wrong. Science can’t make any moral judgement at all because in order to make a judgement in a case like the Third Reich, you have to be able to identify an objective moral standard and then compare the actions of the Third Reich to that standard. You cannot use the the Scientific Method to identify and come to understand the components of an objective standard of moral good and moral evil, therefore there is no scientific basis for claims of moral or ethical value.
As a means of conclusion and reiteration, this article is by no means a statement against the efficacy of science. It’s merely an attempt to inform and arouse thought regarding the gaps in science’s understanding. There are many ways to fill those gaps, be it materialistic atheism, atheistic spirituality, or religious theism. This article is neither an endorsement, nor a condemnation of any of those explanatory worldviews. In short, science hasn’t an answer to everything and there are philosophies and standpoints that provide answers where science can’t.
