After following this a bit more, and looking at some of the mailing list threads behind the scenes (threads in reaction to the change, not leading up to the change), it’s pretty clear that what’s going on on both sides is group identity signaling. The “pro-science” side is not really any more committed to empirical evidence or analytical rigor than the other (which I’d loosely identify as postmodernist).
After following this a bit more, and looking at some of the mailing list threads behind the scenes (threads in reaction to the change, not leading up to the change), it’s pretty clear that what’s going on on both sides is group identity signaling. The “pro-science” side is not really any more committed to empirical evidence or analytical rigor than the other (which I’d loosely identify as postmodernist).