The unreason of reason: Why science can't answer every question; New podcast episode on why the New York Times' '1619 Project' is a lie
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Acton News & Commentary
The specter of scientism
By Samuel Gregg • September 18, 2019
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One pathology characteristic of much post-Enlightenment reasoning is often called “scientism”: treating the scientific method as the only way of knowing anything and everything. Few people would want to do without the material improvements to human life that the natural sciences have achieved. With the scientific method, the Age of Reason bequeathed to us a certain power over nature’s brutal whims. One side-effect of these triumphs was that some began treating the empirical sciences as the only form of true reason and the primary way to discern true knowledge. On the everyday level, scientism appears whenever the language of science is invoked as a trump-card in debate. When someone responds to an argument with “The science says … ” he is often implying that the natural sciences provide the only real standard of objectivity, making the scientist a quasi-religious authority to whom all must defer.
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Acton Line Podcast: Why the '1619 Project' is a lie; Yes, we've tried 'real socialism'
September 18, 2019
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In August, the New York Times launched the '1619 Project,' an initiative that includes school curriculum, videos, and a podcast, which aims to "reframe" the history of America's founding around slavery. The Times claims that since the year 1619, "[n]o aspect of the country that would be formed here has been untouched by the years of slavery that followed." So what is the Times trying to accomplish with the '1619 Project'? Ismael Hernandez, founder and director of the Freedom & Virtue Institute, shows how we can thoughtfully approach it. Afterwards, Joshua Muravchik, author of "Heaven on Earth: The Rise, Fall, and Afterlife of Socialism," lays out the history of socialism and explains why socialism has never worked.
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