[NukeMan]

"Nonobjective activity like politics, hunches, intuition is human activity. Science is human activity. Therefore science is just another nonobjective activity. This is a formal fallacy called Illicit Major, and is documented here. Thanks for warning me about those guys. This is a pretty basic error."

It _is_ a basic error - but this is not my syllogism, it is yours. Mine goes like this:

All humans have a metaphysical viewpoint that cannot be escaped.
Scientists are human.
Therefore, scientists have metaphysical viewpoints, etc.

There is no priviliged view from on high. At any rate, simple historical record shows convincingly that non-objective criteria play a large part in science, especially in determining which problems deserve attention and which are to be ignored. The longer I live, the more I see Kuhn validated.

[Hank Kerchief]

It _is_ a basic error - but this is not my syllogism

It may not be what you intended, but it is exactly what you said. I only reorganized what you said to put it into syllogistic form. I'm willing to stipulate it is not what you intended.

You said this is your syllogism:

All humans have a metaphysical viewpoint that cannot be escaped.
Scientists are human.
Therefore, scientists have metaphysical viewpoints, etc.

What is meant by a, "metaphysical viewpoint," might be anything, but I suspect it is some kind of Kantian view of human consciousness, which I totally reject. All human viewpoints are chosen and the only inescapable part is the necessity of having one. There is absolutely nothing necessary about the content of that viewpoint.

Hank