What is Scientific Bias?
Some people think “science”[1] is an unbiased methodology. However, “Everyday observation is far from passive.”[2]
All scientists begin their study of “the facts” inside a given philosophical worldview. This worldview helps guide the entire process: it helps determine which facts are sought, how experiments are conducted,[3] and even how resulting data is assimilated. Instruments by themselves do not measure; “ultimately, they require a mind.” [4]
Observation is more than just static “images cast upon the retinas” but is assimilated by a human mind that has been shaped by “experience, knowledge and expectations of the observer.”[5]
Thus, the scientist is not neutral in the process but plays an active role in shaping the data. Therefore, there is an inescapable problem of bias in science.
Why is the topic of scientific bias important? It illustrates there are limitations with science. This is relevant when exploring the creation debate.
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- There is a debate today about what “science” even is; therefore “science” is put in quotations here. ↑
- Alan F. Chalmers, What Is This Thing Called Science? 4th ed. (Indianapolis/Cambridge: Hackett Publishing Company, Inc., 2013), 18. ↑
- Nancy R. Pearcey and Charles B. Thaxton, The Soul of Science: Christian Faith and Natural Philosophy (Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway Books, 1994), 117. ↑
- William A. Wallace, The Modeling of Nature: Philosophy of Science and Philosophy of Nature in Synthesis (Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 1996), 241. ↑
- Chalmers, 7. ↑