Science or Society? - The Social Function of Science Revisited

Tyabji, Nasir (1999): Science or Society? - The Social Function of Science Revisited. Published in: India International Centre Quarterly , Vol. 26, No. 3 (1999): pp. 91-98.

Abstract

The “Project of Modernity” is often incorrectly identified with the capitalist industrialization process. Similarly, the identification of “modern” science with the growth of science within the philosophical framework of Cartesian reductionism (which anti- science critics hold as incontestable) is indeed an incorrect view. It is well known that science is not only a structure of knowledge, but also a conceptual mode of thinking that touches on the interrelated parts of our experience. Despite the enormous advances in knowledge within the Cartesian structure, its philosophical basis is the root of the frustration that J. D. Bernal had identified as early as 1939

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Technological Determinism; Social History of Science and Technology; J.D. Bernal
• Subjects: O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O3 - Innovation ; Research and Development ; Technological Change ; Intellectual Property Rights > O33 - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences ; Diffusion Processes; O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O3 - Innovation ; Research and Development ; Technological Change ; Intellectual Property Rights > O38 - Government Policy; Z - Other Special Topics > Z1 - Cultural Economics ; Economic Sociology ; Economic Anthropology > Z13 - Economic Sociology ; Economic Anthropology ; Social and Economic Stratification; Z - Other Special Topics > Z1 - Cultural Economics ; Economic Sociology ; Economic Anthropology > Z18 - Public Policy

References

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Richard Levins and Richard Lewontin (1985) The Dialectical Biologist (Cambridge Mass., Harvard University Press)

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Nasir Tyabji (1997) “Technology and Dialectics” Economic and Political Weekly 36(13): 651-656