Intellectual Humility in Science

[leesouthard (George Lee Southard)]

Yes I think you are right. I have experienced the arogance and Know it all attitude odf some scientists. You mentioned philosophy and humanities. Do you think that arogance applies to the supernatural? I am enclined to think there is a supernatural and as a scientific thinker have to allow for it. Unfortuantely I cannot measure supernatural.

[knor (Kai)]

@Paulm12

Jonathan Haidt talks about how “morality binds and blinds;” that feeling self-righteous is a value judgement and not always an intellectual one. This is particularly apparent when high-profile scientists, claiming to speak for “science” and “science education,” disparage other fields like philosophy without understanding it.

A common weakness among the high-profile persons, not only scientists although scientists tend to be valued in the media. It is some kind of ‘speed blindness’ that is related to a leading position and success.

It seems to include at least two kinds of mental errors. One is a lack of humility in relation to laws and limitations. I heard about a study concluding that those that were in a leading position in the society were more likely to break traffic rules than other citizens. Somehow they value their own opinions more than the limitations set by others, maybe thinking that their personal judgement is better than that of others. As leaders they have the attitude that they can decide what to do, also when deciding which laws and limitations they need to obey.

Another error happens in recognizing the limits of their knowledge. As they have shown their knowledge and ability to make correct conclusions within their own expertise, they tend to overestimate their ability to reach correct conclusions in matters that goes beyond their expertise and at the same time, underestimate the mental capacity of others. They become self-made masters of all trades.
In our country, we speak of ‘experts on call’. These are scientists that are ready to tell their opinions about almost anything related to science. When a journalist needs an expert and does not know who could be a suitable one, a call to the ‘expert on call’ is an easy way to get the opinion of a respected person.
Because these scientists are often in media, they become recognized persons and their name pops up in polls where people are asked about the most well known or respected scientists. In reality, these persons are seldom famous within science, except that other knows these persons to be ‘experts on call’. Public recognition in polls tends to strengthen the selfconfidence of the ‘experts on call’. When the situation continues too long, the journalists start to recognize the limited knowledge of the ‘experts of all trades’ and these persons are not interviewed any more.

I agree that we need to be humble and respect the limits of our knowledge.

[St.Roymond]

@RichardG

Surely all law is based on morality? The idea being to make people conform to the basic moral codes of living. Killing, Robbery, falsehood, deceit, all these things are covered by human laws. Why if not morality? Any defence or justification will be on moral grounds.

To a great extent back then religious laws were about having your people behave significantly differently than others so their identity was clear. From a priestly perspective laws were a way to separate the loyal from the disloyal followers, from a kingly perspective they were about discipline. What morality there was came in because everyone understood that certain things were wrong in and of themselves, so if your people’s set of laws didn’t include those not just neighboring peoples but even your own people would wonder what was wrong with your god.
So what the Torah was really about was a system for demonstrating loyalty to YHWH-Elohim and thus membership in the covenant people. That some morality got included was a side effect.

edit: also from a royal perspective, laws were about property; a great deal of Torah falls into that category

[St.Roymond]

@RichardG

@Dale

What do you measure yourself with, compare yourself against?

1 Cor 13 is enough.

But with the forgiveness brought by Christ there is no need to consider further. I know if I have sinned. I do not need any law to tell me. And because of this, I do not try and justify against any Law or find mitigation within the Law. IOW Laws are irrelevant, or superfluous.

“Love God and do as you please.”
– Augustine of Hippo

[Paraleptopecten (Timothy Campbell)]

@knor

underestimate the mental capacity of others.

At least among those scientists that I’ve personally interacted with this:

seems to be more frequent than underestimating general knowledge about their field. Maybe it goes along with them/us being prominent in fields that most of the general public hasn’t heard of, let alone interacted with, instead of being in a field that’s big news currently.

[knor (Kai)]

I agree that many scientists overestimate the average person’s familiarity with their field or at least the ability of the person to understand the jargon of the field. A typical example is the media releases written by researchers about their latest findings. The researcher writes the release with words (s)he thinks are understandable for the average person. When the researcher gives the release to a press officer, the comment is ‘this is fine but of course this needs to be rewritten so that an average person can understand it’.

What I ment was not this kind of thinking within the field of expertise. Unfortunately, some persons think they understand matters outside their own expertise better than others. As they have relatively little knowledge about those matters, they can make rapidly logical conclusions that omit most details and complications. After that, it is tempting to think that others must be less clever if they have not been able to make the same conclusions from these facts. This kind of projection of own competence beyond the borders of expertise is perhaps some kind of ‘speed blindness’ because it seems to be most(?) common among busy people who have had success within their own field and have reached a leading position within their unit.

[vulcanlogician (Dillon)]

I’ve met a few scientists that fit the description of “lacking in intellectual humility.”

But, to be frank, I’ve met a lot of non-scientists who fit that description too.

I’ve also met a substantial number of scientists who were intellectually careful and modest. A very substantial number. You could maybe even say, on average, a scientist is more likely to be intellectually humble than a non-scientist.

I suppose a Pew research poll is required for us to really figure out where the intellectual immodesty lies. But personal experience doesn’t suggest scientists are any more prone to intellectual immodesty than the rest of us.

[Randy]

@vulcanlogician

I suppose a Pew research poll is required for us to really figure out where the intellectual immodesty lies. But personal experience doesn’t suggest scientists are any more prone to intellectual immodesty than the rest of us.

Yes–I note that Christians (myself included) put ourselves in an awkward position of thinking the Bible has something to say about everything–and we make out that we know much more than we do. As Augustine noted, we not only make fools of ourselves, but also of our faith, when we jump beyond our training.

Thanks.

[vulcanlogician (Dillon)]

@Randy

Yes–I note that Christians (myself included) put ourselves in an awkward position of thinking the Bible has something to say about everything–and we make out that we know much more than we do.

Meh. Everyone does that. I wouldn’t call it a particular fault of the Christians. Atheists do it. Hindus, Muslims, and others do it. No surprise that Christians do it too.

[Paraleptopecten (Timothy Campbell)]

@vulcanlogician

a few scientists that fit the description of “lacking in intellectual humility.”

I can offhand name 3 who do/have worked on fossil mollusks in the southeastern US who definitely qualify (direct quote from one: “I don’t make mistakes.”), and about 30 who did a good job on humility.

[Troy (T Clark)]

Contrary to Reports, There is No Flash of Light at Conception

I thought this was interesting in regards to Christian humility and science.

[Dale (evolutionary providentialist)]

Science reporters can definitely sensationalize things and be certain to mislead, and Christians need to keep their heads on straight.