The Image of Science and the Challenges of Postmodernism: A Critical Investigation

There is an image of science painted and presented by scientists as the ultimate standard of rationality and the most credible way of knowing and speaking about the world, granting all its claims and postulations objective status. One would not be far from the truth to claim that this image of science has come about as the result of the successes of the scientific enterprise. Indeed, we cannot deny the role of science in our understanding of the natural world and the laws governing it, however, can we state with certainty that science is sufficient for knowing the world and dealing with the challenges encountered within? Science is seen or considered as providing certain, objective, and universal knowledge; and has, in the conception of most people today, obtained a hegemonic status over all other means of knowing – context-based. Postmodernism can be considered a challenge to the established status of science as it aims and calls for the breakdown of boundaries, and the rejection of all grand narratives, objectivity, and universality. In this paper we adopt the critical analytic method to examine this image of science and the challenge postmodernism poses to it. We find that science is more progressive than objective, and conclude that both science and postmodernism be reconciled to address context-based problems.