Is scientism a faith?

I find it fascinating that the connotation of the term scientism has changed over the past two decades. It has changed from a term of abuse to a position that some people proudly self-identify with. The Oxford Companion to Philosophy (published in 2005) stated that:

‘Scientism’ is a term of abuse. Therefore, perhaps inevitably, there is no one simple characterization of the views of those who are thought to be identified as prone to it. In philosophy, a commitment to one or more of the following lays one open to the charge of scientism.

(a) The sciences are more important than the arts for an understanding of the world in which we live, or, even, all we need to understand it.

(b) Only a scientific methodology is intellectually acceptable. Therefore, if the arts are to be a genuine part of human knowledge they must adopt it.

(c) Philosophical problems are scientific problems and should only be dealt with as such.

In 2011, Philosopher Alex Rosenberg proudly embraced scientism and described it as

“the conviction that the methods of science are the only reliable ways to secure knowledge of anything; that science’s description of the world is correct in its fundamentals (...) Science provides all the significant truths about reality, and knowing such truths is what real understanding is all about. (...) Being scientistic just means treating science as our exclusive guide to reality, to nature – both our own nature and everything else’s.”

The Atheist’s Guide to Reality: Enjoying Life Without Illusions,  pages 6–8.

In the quotation above I have put some words in boldface to highlight how grand the claims of scientism are. They are value judgements. In other words, science will provide meaning for life, moral values, and technical solutions to all social problems. Like naturalism and logical positivism, scientism is a philosophical position.

Scientism is not the same thing as science. Like foundationalism and logical positivism, scientism is self-defeating. They all make claims that fail to meet their own criteria for what is true. In other words, you cannot use science to determine if scientism is true. Like any worldview, scientism can be viewed as a faith.