On a new ID the Future episode, host and science historian Michael Keas wraps up a four-part conversation with philosopher J.P. Moreland about scientism — the belief that only science grants reliable knowledge about reality. 

Download the podcast or listen to it here.

Scientism is ubiquitous and highly destructive. Dr. Moreland calls it “evil,” and explains why it actually stands in conflict with good science, and much else that we consider precious.

Post-Op Conversation with a Nurse

He recounts a memorable story of interacting with a nurse who attended him when he was in the hospital, following an operation to address colon cancer. He demonstrated to the startled nurse, who was curious about what he does for a living, that some moral knowledge, not accessible through the scientific method, is nevertheless more certain than aspects of scientific knowledge. For instance, our current understanding of the electron. 

“I’ve never heard anyone talk that way!” the nurse exclaimed.

Find the previous three installments of this charming conversation between Keas and Moreland here:

• “J. P. Moreland on the Contradictions of Scientism”
• “J.P. Moreland: Scientism Fuels Our Culture’s Turmoil”
• “J. P. Moreland on Scientism, Darwinism, and Bucking the Consensus”

Dr. Moreland’s new book is Scientism and Secularism: Learning to Respond to a Dangerous Ideology, while Dr. Keas is the author of Unbelievable: 7 Myths About the History and Future of Science and Religion, which you can pre-order at a 50 percent discount from the publisher for a limited time only! It’s out on January 7.

By the way, in the podcast they talk about a t-shirt emblazoned with what’s intended as an ironic slogan, STAND UP AGAINST SCIENTISM. You can find it on Amazon here. It’s intended to mock critiques of scientism so, non-ironically, it would make a great holiday gift for your friends who are into intellectual virtue-signaling.

Photo: J.P. Moreland, screen shot from a video promoting Theistic Evolution, via Crossway Books.