Science, Culture, and Society

1. The Imperative of Science? Science is one faith and has one great commandment. The faith is simply that man can control his future in his own interest. In the face of the appalling discrepancy between the powers of the natural and the social sciences, a discrepancy that leads to visions of man's liquidation by man, the assertion is nevertheless made that the remedy for the consequences of science is more science. The long record of scientific victories in the past gives some warrant, let us suppose, for faith in continued victory, but at bottom there is no compelling proof. There never has been, and, I make bold to say, there never will be. The role of scientist in the human drama always contains lines reminiscent of Prometheus; an utterly nonrational belief in ultimate triumph lends him strength to confront what to others may seem a hopeless future. (This entire paper is so condensed as to be almost elliptical at many points. Fortunately, the writer has dealt with several of the topics touched upon in his recent book, Through Values to Social Interpretation. (3) The frequency with which it will appear in the references is not because the writer regards it as of major importance, but because it dovetails more neatly with this paper than do many other more significant books. Moreover, it has fairly full footnote and chapter bibliographies. The statements in the non-parenthetical part of this paragraph are good examples of the near-elliptical character of much of what is said here. Expansion is badly needed, but the reader must be referred to (2) ch. vi of (3). The position represented is not new; many writers, among them William James, have held it in various ways.) All the sciences in one way or another enjoin this faith on their adherents; and if we may assume that the injunction is taken to heart in equal measure by everyone, from the standpoint of the scientific faith alone there are no distinctions of rank. The good scientist merely is the man who in his calling strives to be a scientist as far as in him lies; the degree of success achieved in his actual scientific work is no measure of his devotion to the scientific faith. It follows from this that there are no better or worse sciences; inasmuch as all are assumed to be struggling toward the same goal to the limit of their powers, the more advanced are not superior to those that lag behind. Though many of us will grant these assumptions in the abstract-especially if, like the writer, they are adherents of a science notorious for its present lack of precision-there can be no doubt that there is concretely a definite rank order among scientists. Whether the theoretical physicists are the five-star generals I dare not presume to say, but I know, I think, that the social scientists are often the buck privates. Indeed, there are those commissioned officers who refer casually, although doubtless without malicious intent, to "the social studies" as beyond the charmed circle of the sciences as such. Having volunteered for the duration, social scientists can only do their duty to the best of their ability,