scientism

A pejorative term for treating the methods or authority of natural science as applicable, or as the decisive warrant, outside their proper domain. Per a search this session (not fetched to a primary dictionary entry — recorded as a lead, not a verified etymology): the word is dated to roughly 1870 in the OED and credited there to George Bernard Shaw, and was later popularized as a critique by Friedrich Hayek in 1942-43 ("Scientism and the Study of Society"). First vault encounter (vault_mentions: 0 at capture time): Greenhalgh's 2003 article uses language close to this concept — "scientistic rhetorical packaging" (p. 179) — describing the same move her own text names as citation conferring "unassailable legitimacy," without naming the concept outright. Watching for recurrence before promotion to a full hub.

References

• claim-greenhalgh-2003-frames-kwakernaak-citation-as-legitimacy-transfer-independent-of-content
• Capture: 10-inbox/raw/2026-11-02-hop-citation-as-legitimation-bridges-song-jian-chatgpt.md