Postmodernism explored this in some capacity in the 20th century, because there are links between science, rationalism, and our ability to think rationally in p

Postmodernism explored this in some capacity in the 20th century, because there are links between science, rationalism, and our ability to think rationally in practice: if we do irrational science and don't notice, the results are false but accepted as true - a phenomenon which has indeed occurred countless times, despite mechanisms intended to add rigor to the process. All that has to happen is for an emotional attachment to a concept to settle in, and our sense of causality goes out the window. A lot of our material progress comes simply from selecting different benchmarks and methods of observation.