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The questioning of Western civilization is today a commonplace exercise, and the condemnation of science constitutes a necessary chapter. But is this condemnation of science or of technology, or of the uses that modern society makes of one or the other? We do not want to examine here the value or the means of a political control of technology nor do we want to distinguish between “pure” science and its blameworthy applications. The ties are too tight and historically too evident between Western civilization and the development of science. It is science itself which is in question, and one more commonly blames it for ignoring the quality of things and for not recognizing anything but the measurable. Around this central criticism are rather confusedly expressed secondary themes, ranging from “the quality of life” up to the ineffable modes of special communication.
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- Research Article
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- Copyright © 1974 Fédération Internationale des Sociétés de Philosophie / International Federation of Philosophical Societies (FISP)
Footnotes
*
The present article summarizes a paper read at an interdisciplinary seminar dedicated to quality, held in Venice in May 1974. We thank the publishers of the proceedings of the seminar, Il Mulino of Bologna, who kindly authorized us to use this text.
References
1 De la génération et de la corruption, II, 2.
2 Ibid., II, 3.
3 Physique, I, 7.
4 Ibid., I, 2.
5 Ibid., I, 7.
6 Ibid., II, 2.
7 An elucidation of the subject and a bibliography can be found in M. Clavelin, La Philosophie Naturelle de Galilée (Paris, 1968), ch. II.
8 Quoted by Burtt, The Metaphysical Foundations of Modern Physical Science, London, 1967, p. 57. Kepler adds: "The opposite is not always true." Is this the case as regards quot?
9 Nouvelles observations microscopiques, Paris, 1750, pp. 267-8, 331 and 454-8. According to Needham, primary qualities are just as subjective as secondary qualities.
10 La Nature dans la Physique contemporaine, Paris, 1962, p. 34.
11 In Nature, vol. 168, 1951, p. 630.
12 L'homme unidimensionnel, Paris, 1968, ch. 6, pp. 171-180. According to H. Marcuse, the exploitation of man by man and of nature by man are but one and the same phenomenon, characterized by scientific and technological reasoning.
13 Les mots et les choses, Paris, 1966, p. 398.
14 Le paradigme perdu: la nature humaine, Paris, 1973, p. 231.
15 Anthropologiques, Paris, 1974, p. 9.
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