The history of science (Introduction)

by David Turell @, Thursday, January 22, 2015, 15:25 (3353 days ago)

From hobby to avocation. Darwin lived on his own money. Now money is perhaps everything and scientific research makes political decisions possible; think global warming:-https://bostonreview.net/steven-shapin-scientism-virtue-"If the disinterestedness and selflessness of scientists can be no more relied on than that of bankers, then scientific conclusions should be no more trusted than financial derivatives, and science should be policed in the same way as the banking industry. Regimes of surveillance and control are a modern indication of distrust. Yet science, like the financial system, works on credit, and, while there is excellent sense in subjecting both scientific and financial conduct to a degree of regulation, there is no sense at all in thinking that surveillance can ever eliminate the need for trust. If you don't find scientists trustworthy, if you think of them as mere servants of power and profit, then the ultimate price to be paid is that you'll have to do the science yourself—and good luck to you in making your findings credible.-"So the cost of modern skepticism about scientific virtue is paid not just by scientists but by all of us. The complex problems once belonging solely to the spheres of prudence and political action are now increasingly conceived as scientific problems: if the global climate is indeed warming, and if the cause is human activity, then policies to restrict carbon emissions are warranted; if hepatitis C follows an epidemiological trajectory resulting in widespread liver failure, then the high price of new drugs may be justified. The success of modern is-expertise has propelled it powerfully into the world of ought-judgment.-"That is why there can be no glib “of course” about discarding the idea of virtue. We need to trust scientists, but we need scientists to be trustworthy."

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