Anti-science is a term applied to individuals who are claimed to oppose science or the scientific method. It is also a term applied to ideas or beliefs which are claimed to conflict with scientific orthodoxy.

Certain doctrines that might be expected to inevitably conflict with science, such as those of organised religion, may in fact be claimed not to support an anti-science stance.

Literary theorists who challenge the linguistic integrity of scientific writing are often accused of taking an anti-science stance. Similarly, anthropologists who question the cultural context of claims regarding the historical impact of science are often accused of opposing science.

History

Those involved in the beginnings of the scientific revolution such as Robert Boyle found themselves in immediate and direct confrontation with those such as Thomas Hobbes who were extremely sceptical regarding whether what we now think of as the scientific method was a satisfactory way to obtain genuine knowledge of the nature of the world. Hobbes' stance is today seen by many as an anti-science position.

Anti-science issues are seen as a fundamental consideration in the transition from 'pre science' or 'proto-science' such as that evident in Alchemy. Many disciplines which pre-date the widespread adoption and acceptance of the scientific method, such as geometry and astronomy, are not seen as anti-science.

Nonetheless, some of the orthodoxies within those disciplines which pre-date a scientific approach (such as those orthodoxies repudiated by the discoveries of Galileo) are seen as being a product of an anti-science stance.

The term 'scientism' is sometimes used as a pejorative description, in the sense that individuals to whom this is attributed are claimed to be 'fetishising' science, or treating science in a similar way to a religion, but those who make such accusations are often in turn accused (usually by supporters of science) rightly or wrongly, of having an anti science stance (see reference to Feyerabend below).

The term reductionism is occasionally used in a similarly pejorative way (as a somewhat more subtle attack on scientists) although scientists can now be found who recognise the conceptual and philosophical shortcomings of reductionism but feel nonetheless comfortable in being labelled as reductionists.

References

• Leviathan and the Air Pump Schapin and Shaffer (covers the conflict between Hobbes and Boyle)
• The Scientific Outlook by Bertrand Russell (sets out the limits of science from the perspective of a vehement campaigner against anti-science).
• An Enqiuiry Concerning Human Understanding by David Hume (The first major work to point out the limits of inductive reasoning, the 'new tool of science').
• Against Method by Paul Feyerabend (probably the individual most accused of reinvigorating anti-science, although some claim that he is in fact strengthening the scientific debate)