Thank you for clarifying how science works — it’s really important to keep this in mind, and to think about the limit of what science can tell us about the world.
A core maxim of mine is “Human subjects are not objects,” which means that humans are based in subjectivity, not objectivity, and that therefore any attempt to claim objective knowledge about human subjects requires objectification of the subjective. It is necessary and important that science eliminate subjective influence from inquiries about objects (e.g., atoms, chemicals, cells, etc.), but if the object of study are human subjects and/or subjective experiences (e.g., stress, emotion, belief, etc.), then the scientific method can only be used if the subjective is objectified, which is necessary but not sufficient for unethical treatment of humans. The history of psychology is an emblem of the dangers that come from using science to make claims to objectivity about human subjects (e.g., the word “moron” was a technical term developed by a psychologist to describe those who performed poorly on intelligence tests that were culturally biased and meant to exclude immigrants from becoming US citizens). I’m a qualitative researcher in psychology and constantly have to defend myself from empiricists who think that because there are no numbers my work is therefore “purely subjective” and therefore not important. I recommend Stephen Gould’s Mismeasure of Man for an overview of “scientific racism” in psychology. It’s a disturbing look at the misuses of science to “factually justify” prejudice.
Science is amazing and important, but there is a limit to what it can tell us — and that limit I perceive in the context of “soft sciences” “getting hard” by objectifying the subjective to make claims to objectivity about that which is necessarily subjective. The upshot of all this is based in sexism, as there is nothing wrong with softness, but because of sexism softness is feminized and there are subsequent ideological strivings toward a masculinized “hardness” that ends up damaging the soft entrails of us humans as we feel our way through worlds.
