yep, this is part of what I was trying to say. There are a lot of STEM-heads who like to point to their interest, employment or education in STEM as credentials

yep, this is part of what I was trying to say. There are a lot of STEM-heads who like to point to their interest, employment or education in STEM as credentials for their rationality but who are mostly incapable of thinking critically. The level at which you have to critically engage with topics like empiricism and epistemology are way beyond the level of science education and towards being an actual research scientist.