[To borrow from Robert Pirsig: What follows should in no way be
associated with that great body of accurate information relating to
monastic life. It might not be too hot on epistemology either.]
Tying down the epistemology of science & the scientific method is
notoriously hard. Whatever your definition it seems that there is always
something that doesn’t fit.
One current trend in epistemology is to look at it in terms of
epistemological or intellectual virtues. So, the focus becomes the way
beliefs are acquired and becoming an intellectually virtuous agent,
rather than having a water-tight theory for why certain beliefs are
justified, etc. If my method for generating beliefs is based on a
reliable/virtuous process, then I am justified in holding on to the
results. In this context, intellectual virtues are things such as
humility, teachableness, inquisitiveness, perserverence, …
(Actually, part of what I’ve just said is probably ‘reliablism’, rather
than virtue epistemology, but let’s not go there right now. For more on
intellectual virtues, try ‘Epistemology’ by Jay Wood.)
Taking that perspective, maybe we can characterise science as a
community where (certain) epistimological virtues are fostered and where
there are strict guards against wandering into vice. In that way,
perhaps an analogy is monastic life. Where monastic communities are ones
in which (primarily spiritual) virtues are fostered and straying into
vice is made difficult.
As you get different monastic orders, with different Rules, science
develops and changes (with paradigm shifts and other re-organisation)
and reaches into different areas. As this happens different aspects are
focussed on and become ‘good science’. It is hard to tie down timeless
components of method, because what counts is the underlying theme —
that to be a scientist is to exhibit certain intellectual virtues — not
the following of a particular regimen.
And while there might be tried and tested methods for avoiding
(intellectual) vice within the the scientific community, sometimes it
might be necessary to ignore those methods to move forward. This is not
acting incorrectly because, the goal is to remain virtuous, not to
rigidly follow certain paths.
Might be interesting to see where that idea takes us. Especially looking
at some aspects of ‘intellectual virtues’ & seeing how they map to what
we see in science.
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