ABSTRACT
Wars over Science Science is the greatest intellectual achievement of humankind and the only source of
reliable knowledge about anything natural in the universe. It is superior to other ways of
knowing because it yields justified beliefs-that is, beliefs that are verifiably true across all
cultures. It is thus little wonder that people involved in many areas of inquiry that deal
with “softer” material than that found in the nonhuman world want these to be viewed as
sciences. Despite some fleeing to such anti-science schools of thought as postmodernism
and social constructionism where nothing passes for objectively justified belief, I think
that most criminologists want to claim scientific status for their discipline.
