The Changing Role of the Public Intellectual by Dolan Cummings

Author:Dolan Cummings [Cummings, Dolan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Political Science, History & Theory, Social Science, Sociology, General
ISBN: 9780415347822
Google: -0o8cCqA-3oC
Goodreads: 10329128
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2005-01-15T07:00:57+00:00

Conclusion

As the aspiration for real social change has receded, so science has been inflated in terms of import and impact, out of all proportion. This has been both by those who see science as a danger as well as by those who see it as the solution to everything. Brian Wynne argues that the ‘increasing dependence on the scientific has given science a new role’. In fact, it is the failure of politics that has done so.

We should not include ‘lay values’ or ‘local knowledge’ into science, peer review or anywhere else, as there is no such thing. These are in fact mere opinions that need to be interrogated just as much as the scientific evidence itself. Labelling them ‘values’, as many now seem prone to do, is in fact a conscious attempt to set this debate off-limits by suggesting that we should not offend people's values.10

But science is not about making us feel good about ourselves. It can reveal some quite disconcerting truths. Indeed, we owe a debt to those who, in the past, were prepared to put their heads above the parapet of perception, prejudice and power, in order to expose the real workings of the world. This was not done by accommodating to majority, or even minority, views.

Having said that, mavericks do have a role to play within science. But this is by ruthlessly revealing assumed values and eliminating them, rather than by importing a few more of their own into the debate. Above all else, mavericks need to corroborate their evidence and convince their peers.11

We should move away from our growing obsession with the impact of science upon society and begin to examine a bit more critically the impact of society upon science. This is especially so in a society that faces no greater difficulties, or complexities, than in the past, but that despite this, has lost its sense of ambition, of the need to develop a broader vision and of the paramount importance of the will to explore and experiment, a society that appears so riddled by self-doubt and cynicism that it has become afraid of taking risks and hence unable to establish trust.

Sadly, unlike in the past, when change largely coincided with periods of social optimism or mass political engagement, what we have today is a fear of change that stems from social pessimism and mass political disengagement. It is this that will need to be addressed if we are to restore the primacy of science. Thus, irrespective of whether we benefit or not from a scientifically more literate public, the more important process of reengaging the public cannot be forced and will need to derive from advocating a broader social vision.

There has never really been what one could call ‘Science Wars’,12fought through to a conclusion. There may be no better time to start them than now.

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