Capitalism uses science in the same way religion does. It cherry picks the parts of science that it thinks helps its case and everything else is blasphemy.
It’s kind of like how the Catholic church now believes in “evolution” but God was the one putting commands into the game engine console to make things evolve, and that the ability for living things to evolve at all is in fact proof of intelligent design.
“Science” vs. Religion is a struggle over epistemology more than over fact. How do we know what we know? Different epistemologies may agree on what is real or even on the nature of existence to some degree. “”“”“Religion”“”“”" or Catholics or whatever, will have its own way of knowing how to know what is known. Capitalism has its way.
Usually when religious apologists use “science” to make a point they are using rhetoric to speak across an epistemological divide, and they almost always center facts–the products of epistemology–to ground the conversation. Every epistemology must ask others “Do your knowledge creators not agree with this fact?” to set or test basic ground rules for the discourse.
This exorcise actually disciplines religion in the favor of enlightenment science, because the enlightenment would never recognize an epistemology other than its own. The Catholic Church has to play capitals game to beg for recognition. I find it undignified on the part of the church that it would bend its own terms so that they even stand a chance at being recognized by capital–“Intelligent design.” Also, i think we all know that there are a lot of folks who eat up religious apologetics are still excellent at advancing capitalist empire. There is a lot ontological overlap between Christianity and Capitalism across the west so they actually have a ton in common anyway.
So what im saying is that this is not how capitalism uses science. There are no inconvenient facts when you dominate how knowledge is known. Power may be subject to some kind of hard “truth,” but such truths can be created, asserted, delegitimized, whatever. We can live in denial and capitalist relations can reproduce. We can live in full recognition of climate change and capitalist relations can reproduce. Both are true right now.
Capitalism uses science in the same way religion does. It cherry picks the parts of science that it thinks helps its case and everything else is blasphemy.
It’s kind of like how the Catholic church now believes in “evolution” but God was the one putting commands into the game engine console to make things evolve, and that the ability for living things to evolve at all is in fact proof of intelligent design.
“Science” vs. Religion is a struggle over epistemology more than over fact. How do we know what we know? Different epistemologies may agree on what is real or even on the nature of existence to some degree. “”“”“Religion”“”“”" or Catholics or whatever, will have its own way of knowing how to know what is known. Capitalism has its way.
Usually when religious apologists use “science” to make a point they are using rhetoric to speak across an epistemological divide, and they almost always center facts–the products of epistemology–to ground the conversation. Every epistemology must ask others “Do your knowledge creators not agree with this fact?” to set or test basic ground rules for the discourse.
This exorcise actually disciplines religion in the favor of enlightenment science, because the enlightenment would never recognize an epistemology other than its own. The Catholic Church has to play capitals game to beg for recognition. I find it undignified on the part of the church that it would bend its own terms so that they even stand a chance at being recognized by capital–“Intelligent design.” Also, i think we all know that there are a lot of folks who eat up religious apologetics are still excellent at advancing capitalist empire. There is a lot ontological overlap between Christianity and Capitalism across the west so they actually have a ton in common anyway.
So what im saying is that this is not how capitalism uses science. There are no inconvenient facts when you dominate how knowledge is known. Power may be subject to some kind of hard “truth,” but such truths can be created, asserted, delegitimized, whatever. We can live in denial and capitalist relations can reproduce. We can live in full recognition of climate change and capitalist relations can reproduce. Both are true right now.
exactly right