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More Pink Dot participants, majority’s disapproval not contradictory

I refer to Dr Nazry Bahrawi’s commentary “Social sciences matter, but so do humanities” (March 19). It is laudable he recognises the importance of the humanities in shaping social policies.

I refer to Dr Nazry Bahrawi’s commentary “Social sciences matter, but so do humanities” (March 19). It is laudable he recognises the importance of the humanities in shaping social policies.

Scientism, the belief that insists on the scientific method as the sole procedure of truth-seeking, cannot fulfil society’s needs.

Knowledge of “what is” cannot ultimately help people who seek to navigate questions about meaning and values to make the leap to “what should be”. Hence, Dr Nazry suggests that subjects such as philosophy, theology and literature cannot be left out of the discussion on social policy.

He is mistaken, however, about the Institute of Policy Studies survey released last year, which posed a question, among others, about the morality of same-sex relations.

One of his reasons for doubting the legitimacy of its methodology is the fact that 78.2 per cent of respondents frowned on same-sex relations, despite more Singaporeans participating in the Pink Dot gathering year by year. This reasoning is fallacious.

The survey did not involve the comparison of changing attitudes over time. Hence, the disapproval of same-sex relations by a majority of respondents last year does not conflict with the fact that more Singaporeans are taking part in the Pink Dot event.

Observing a phenomenon at a point in time shows nothing about the phenomenon over time. Also, Dr Nazry assumes that if more people participate in an event, it means more people support the cause behind the event, which may not be necessarily so. It is an inference with a leap of faith.

While I agree with the overall thrust of his article, his example of the shortcomings of data-centric research in policymaking is far from ideal.

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