[hist-analytic] Bete Noires in the Dark (scientism)

[Roger Bishop Jones]

Scanning Speranza's collection of quotes about scientism
I offer the following characterisation.

  Scientism is the systematic application of scientific method
  (at any level) beyond its effective scope, or an excessive,
  possibly utopian, conception of the potential of such methods.

This is a pejorative construal of the concept.
I wonder, has it always been a pejorative term or have
people sometimes thought it a positive thing?

RBJ