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Organized Skepticism, Naïve Methodism, and Other -ISMS

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Abstract

The Science Wars have pitted defenders of science against those accused of attacking it with the weapons of constructivism and relativism. I argue that this defensive stance is in large part a consequence of two other -isms, organized skepticism and naïve methodism, that play a significant, if mostly unconscious, role in how scientists tend to think about science, and suggest that increased awareness of these -isms may help dissipate the perceptions of hostility.

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Correspondence to Jay A. Labinger.

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Labinger, J.A. Organized Skepticism, Naïve Methodism, and Other -ISMS. Found Chem 8, 97–110 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10698-004-3531-2

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