The Rule of Science (The Ideology of the Open Society and Its Future)

Author: (English) Fuller, translated by Liu Dun
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-12-01
Features: How do sociological and political theories view the role of science in society? Do scientists and other professional researchers have unlimited "rights to make mistakes"? What do capitalism and multiculturalism mean for the future of universities? This book examines the increasingly powerful role of science in contemporary society from sociological and political perspectives. Science is often seen as the only institution capable of expressing the obscure democratic concept of an "open society." However, modern science is not aligned with the essential elements of this concept: it demands public trust far more than public understanding, and even science itself becomes increasingly entangled with grand political and economic issues. In this book, the author neither adopts a liberal stance nor sympathizes with communist ideology but leans toward a research approach he calls "republicanism," focusing on the "right to make mistakes" to build his theoretical framework. To this end, he demonstrates how the recent expansion of scientific activities has weakened republican thought. Another core theme of the book is the social history of the struggle that turned universities into "republics of science," with the author's focus on the dual potential challenges of multiculturalism and capitalism. Finally, facing a reevaluation of U.S. science policy, the author proposes the need to "de-sacralize" science through a new social contract.