Unscientific Doctrinaire
Language: English
Part of Speech: Noun phrase
Definition 1:
A pejorative term for someone perceived as ideologically rigid and dismissive of empirical inquiry or scientific method; typically used to criticize thinkers whose theories are seen as overly abstract or detached from real-world data.
Definition 2:
More specifically, a label sometimes applied—often unfairly—to proponents of a priori reasoning in disciplines like economics or philosophy, who argue that certain truths about human behavior can be deduced logically rather than derived from empirical observation.
Contextual Usage:
Sometimes those unfamiliar with Mises's body of work, take him to be rejecting empirical studies altogether. They castigate him as an antiquated, unscientific doctrinaire, unwilling to let “the real world” interfere with his writings.
— Murphy, Robert P., Choice: Cooperation, Enterprise, and Human Action
Clarification:
Although critics may use this phrase to dismiss a priori approaches as dogmatic, its application often overlooks the philosophical foundations and internal logic of such methods—particularly within the Austrian School of economics.
Etymology:
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Unscientific — un- (not) + scientific, from Latin scientia (“knowledge”)
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Doctrinaire — from French doctrinaire, “dogmatic theorist,” from Latin doctrina (“teaching, doctrine”)
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