Science and the Social Order

THE object of the pamphlets in the Series “Looking Forward”, issued by the Royal Institute of International Affairs, is to present problems rather than to solve them; and Dr. C. H. Desch has carried out this purpose in his “Science and the Social Order” (pp. 49. Is. net). For the man of science, the pamphlet is indeed too elementary to be of much interest: its value lies rather as a means of educating the general public on the importance of the scientific habit of mind, as distinct from the knowledge acquired by scientific methods, and the dependence of government and administration on information supplied by scientific experts. Dr. Desch presents lucidly but persuasively the case for the use of scientific methods in planning- for substituting factual knowledge for guess-work- and emphasizes that only planned direction on an international scale making use of all the resources of science, physical, chemical, biological and sociological, is capable of undertaking the immense task of reconstruction that confronts us. He steers clear of political issues while stressing the need for further development of the social sciences, and he does not fail to challenge scientific men themselves to recognize their exceptional position and to determine that, so far as in them lies, their work will be directed to social uses. Dr. Desch suggests that as sociology becomes more generally accepted as one of the sciences, and as the history of scientific discovery is more and more studied in relation to political and economic history, appreciation will grow of the fundamental importance of science in the modern community. Within limits the physicist, chemist or biologist will become something of a sociologist, and the linking of his efforts in his special science with the service of society may resolve the ethical dilemma. Dr. Desch insists further on the need for clear exposition and the avoidance of jargon, and also on the impossibility of limiting scientific research and particularly fundamental research.