The republic of learning

Academic science is the stereotype of science in its purest form. When people talk about scientific research (as distinct from technology) they primarily have in mind the sort of scientific work that is done in universities. They think of it as the characteristic activity of members of a particular social group in a particular social frame.

Scientists themselves insist that they belong to a community, indicating that they recognize each other as people who share many values, traditions and goals. But this community is essentially notional. The word is used to mean ‘all those people who subscribe to certain general principles of rationality and objectivity, and have such high standards of expertise and mutual trust that they can be relied upon to work together for the benefit of humanity in the attainment of truth’. On the one hand, it proclaims the unity of this group within society at large. On the other hand, it asserts that its members are individuals who are linked together voluntarily by their common attitude to learning and research.

The concept of a scientific community is part of the traditional philosophical Legend. At the same time, however, it encases science in a sociological ‘black box’, whose internal structure is deemed to be irrelevant to the pursuit of knowledge. Indeed, the power of the Legend lingers on, even amongst the champions of a ‘sociology of scientific knowledge’.