Science

Summary

Dominique Pagani approaches science above all to distinguish it from scientism. He recalls three conditions of a scientific discourse: an object of its own, universal and necessary laws, and experimental verification through measurement. He finds them in Max Planck, whose caution in the face of the problem of induction raised by Hume he emphasises. With Galileo and Descartes, measurement replaces Aristotle's finalist physics. But Descartes' "long chains of reasons", and then d'Alembert, carry the scientistic temptation to reduce everything to determinism, which becomes reductive when applied to the human world1. In his view, quantum mechanics did not introduce chance into being, the prestige of science lies in its predictability, and knowing laws makes it possible to act on them2. Against the sceptic, science proves that knowledge exists3. He considers it illegitimate to pass from univocal equations to everyday language. On climate, he does not dispute the scientific consensus but a popular version that deifies nature4. With Lavoisier, he concludes that science cannot be perfected without questioning language5.

1. 19 #17 La métaphore géopolitique • Planck • Descartes • Clouscard • Dominique Pagani17 Mar 2021
2. 2#4.5 Angélique (de Nerval)12 Feb 2018
3. 3Les deux ennemis du philosophe : Le dogmatique et le sceptique.16 Nov 2017
4. 4Un équilibre dans la nature ? • Q&A Philosophique • Dominique Pagani31 Mar 2021
5. 5Langage et pensée : Le cas Lavoisier13 Apr 2026

Introduction produced automatically from the 8 sessions on this theme, to be reviewed; the numbers link to the sessions.