Beyond the instrumental mode

Scientific research is undertaken nowadays primarily for its eventual material benefits (§9.1). For this reason, our discussion of the external social relations of science has focused almost exclusively on its instrumental connections through technology. But the influence of scientific knowledge and ways of thought is far wider than the contributions of R & D to industry, medicine, agriculture, war and other typical human pursuits (§12.1). In this final chapter, therefore, we consider science as a general cultural resource, with significant societal effects beyond those directly due to technical change.

This is a large and diffuse metascientific theme, which can only be treated very schematically. Science is only one amongst the many elements that go into the making of contemporary culture. These other elements – psychic, political, philosophical, humanistic, aesthetic, religious, etc. – have to be appreciated in their own right and not looked at solely through eyes that have already been ‘blinded by science’. Scientism (§3.9) is not just a philosophical doctrine; it has its sociological, political and ethical manifestations, which are equally misleading and dangerous.