Who Gets To Define Science?

By Leo Gura - July 11, 2026

What scientists don’t understand is that they have no more right to define what counts as science as non-scientists. Why would scientists have any more right to define science than anyone else? That seems smart on the surface but it’s actually stupid. That is egotism masquerading as science. I don’t care how many PhDs or Nobel prizes you have, you have no more right to define science than I do. If this doesn’t make sense to you, think it through deeper. Nobody owns what science ought to be. Just because you got a PhD or Nobel prize does not mean your version of science is how it ought to be! Just because you joined a country club doesn’t mean you know what is best for the future of that country club. The question isn’t how science is, the question is how it ought to be? But who gets to decide how it ought to be? Today’s scientists? NO! Obviously no, because that is straight up question-begging. If today’s science is deeply flawed — which it is — then you can’t use that as a rationale for why they get to decide the future. The fox has convinced himself that only he has the right to guard the hen-house. But I say the fox is high on his own supply.

The notion that only scientists get to define science is unscientific, unquestioned dogma masquerading as science.

The scientific ego thinks it owns science. No. You don’t own science any more than me. I will tell scientists how science should be, precisely because I’m not corrupted by science.

It will take a long time for scientists to understand this one because it so contradicts everything they’ve been taught.

The beauty of true science is that anyone can define it, not just a credentialed class. Science is not owned by anyone, not even scientists. That is because no scientist ever knew what science was. No one gets to be the Pope of Science because no one ever knew what science was. Don’t you scientists see that true science is so open-ended that it cannot even define itself!

The over-definition of science is unscientific and corrupts science by artificially limiting its purview. Do I have to be a scientist to understand or say this? Nope. Does it matter if every scientist in the world disagrees with me? Nope. It is still true.

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