An Absurd Proposal Reminds Us of the Limits of Science

At the “Science-Based Medicine” web site there is currently an essay advocating one of the most absurd proposals I have ever heard. Entitled “A right to science,” the essay advocates that there should be a new amendment to the United States constitution, one that reads, “Neither Congress nor any State shall make or enforce any law unless it is based on the best available science.” The author, a lawyer, notes “I cannot find a single mention of any such proposal in the legal literature.” I can think of a reason why no one has ever previously proposed such an amendment. It is that if such an amendment were enacted, we could no longer enforce laws against murder, theft, fraud, or kidnapping.

Science tells us about physical realities, and it can tell us some things about human behavior and human thinking. But science tells us nothing at all about value, morality, or right or wrong. There is no scientific evidence that murder is wrong. The judgment that murder is wrong is one that humans reach because we have a conscience. So if we could no longer enforce any law “unless it is based on the best available science,” we would have to stop enforcing laws against murder. We would also have to stop enforcing laws against theft. There has never been a single shred of scientific evidence showing that it is wrong to steal from someone else.

You could try to argue against the opposite by arguing for some principle that whatever produces sadness or pain is wrong, and that science can show that certain actions tend to produce suffering. But the principle that whatever produces sadness or pain is wrong is a debatable philosophical principle, not a scientific principle. And such a principle doesn't even work as an ethical principle, as it would prevent us from paying our income taxes (a source of sadness), and prevent us from forcing students to study hard subjects like physics (a source of pain).

Science cannot prove the morality or rectitude of anything. Scientific evidence can prove that some particular person killed someone. But science is absolutely mute about what should be done as a consequence of such an event. Science has nothing to say about whether it is better to hang murderers or to give them a second chance and let them go free.

If all laws had to be based on scientific evidence, we would have to repeal any law gathering taxes to help pay for a military to defend the country against foreign threats. Science tells us nothing about whether it is better for an American flag, a Chinese flag or a Russian flag to be the main flag flying over United States soil.

Here are some of the things that science can measure: mass, charge, weight, speed, momentum, heat and position. Here are some of the things that science cannot measure: value, justice, rightness and morality.

There were many scientists involved in the building of the first atomic bomb. But not one of them protested to his superiors that such a weapon should never be used. They could not see in their physics equations or data anything suggesting it would be wrong to incinerate 100,000 people. Scientists later developed hydrogen bombs that helped put mankind on the brink of destruction. The hydrogen bomb scientists did not let moral considerations stop their work, seeing nothing in their equations suggesting it would be wrong to create a bomb that might kill 10 million people at a time. Warning of the risks of gene splicing, a recent scientific paper stated, “Given the pace of biotechnology’s progress, the irresistible pressure to continue that progress for universally-desired medical purposes, the dual-use potential of the technology, and its potential worldwide reach, many humans could soon have the capacity to end Earth’s technical civilization.” But the paper's warning has attracted little attention, and today's scientists show unbridled enthusiasm for gene-splicing. Why should we be surprised by such things, given that there is scarcely a moral statement to be found in the average textbook on physics, chemistry and biology?

Their equations didn't tell them it was wrong to invent H-bombs

Science tells us that our planet is getting warmer, and that this is mainly because of man-made activity. But science tells us nothing about whether we should inconvenience ourselves to help limit global warming. Should we build smaller cars with less legroom to try to help save thousands of little-known animal species from extinction? Science is mute on this, and almost all other moral questions.

Morality is something that does not come from science, and moral sentiments are something that cannot be well-explained by science. The science of sociology can explain why certain group taboos can arise that may include things that are forbidden largely as the result of custom. But science cannot explain the basic fact of human conscience. Why is a person troubled if he does some bad act causing pain, injury or death for another, even if he thinks there is no chance he will be punished? Science cannot explain this. The idea that it comes from our genes or DNA is nonsense, as are all claims that attempt to genetically explain unique human mental characteristics. Genes merely specify the linear polypeptide sequences in proteins, and cannot possibly express behavior rules or subtle mental feelings.

It is reasonable to assume that the moral light that shines within us comes us from our souls, the very existence of which many a scientist would deny.  Scientific facts can be morally relevant, but what is right and what is wrong is never or almost never something that can  be scientifically determined.