De-Centring Science: Diffractively Mapping Ways of Understanding the World

Abstract

Scientism is very popular today, which is problematic, as Kuhn’s theory of paradigms and Nietzsche’s perspectivism show that science gives a limited perspective on the world. To counter scientism and de-centre science, I will be mapping the different ways of understanding the world which are dominant in scientific, indigenous, East Asian and feminist traditions. I will be diffractively reading how people from the latter three groups have criticized science, mapping how the differences between the ways of understanding the world they plead for and those they plead against matter. I am contributing to a new big picture in which different ways of understanding the world are situated and can be responsibly used, because we are aware of their benefits and disadvantages.