Social constructivist critics described science’s methods as exploitative and even sexual violence

Evidence

Some claimed that science was really about the personal aggrandizement of scientists who were claiming to be experts on empirical matters. Rather than discovering the truth about nature, they were merely advancing their own agenda of power and exploitation based on their political beliefs. Others pointed out that the language of scientific inquiry was irredeemably sexist and revealed its exploitative nature. It was “prying the secrets loose” from mother nature, forcing her to submit to their examination. One scholar went so far as to claim that Newton’s Principia Mathematica was a “rape manual.” — Lee McIntyre, Post-Truth, 254

Categorization

• CANDY: The Newton’s Principia as ‘rape manual’ claim is a jaw-dropping, shareable artifact of the extreme science wars rhetoric.
• XREF: connects to: Post-truth roots lie in ancient cognitive bias, academic relativism, and media change; Scientific rationalism becomes an instrument of social domination — Herbert Marcuse, One-Dimensional Man: Studies in the…, 141; Social constructivists aimed to undermine science’s single privileged perspective. — Lee McIntyre, Post-Truth, 252 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Scientific rationalism becomes an instrument of social domination #complicates (0.80) — Herbert Marcuse, One-Dimensional Man, 141