Thursday, September 11, 2008

Why science is a social enterprise

Science is a social enterprise. Without society to support its development, science wouldn’t exist. The great questions that were once explained through religious beliefs have taken on new approaches in the form of science. Science changes society with every advancement that is discovered. Scientists strive to uncover new information and verify them as facts. Then as Kitcher states, society in the form of funding agencies chooses to pursue whatever information is in the best interest for the people. There are also social sides of science that have lead to the advancements of many people such as feminist movements and environmentalist movements. With the help of sociologists and historians, women have gained great amounts of power and respect through research of how women have been treated and how to better empower women so that they can help society. It’s important to remember that science is a social enterprise for several reasons.   Society controls the values and ethics that scientists abide with. Even though science uses proven facts and tested theories, it still needs society for everything, like money and people to use the information on. Much of the information that comes from science is formulated from studying people, i.e. society. Science is a means of gaining knowledge for the good of society.

2 comments:

Transects said...

Good response. Could pull a bit more from the readings, but all in all, good effort. The length is appropriate. There seem to be a few major aspects you leave out though.

Prof. Schienke said...

The Kitcher reference is from the Longino article. It has to be one of these two. Go back to the article to find out which one.

http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2008/entries/scientific-knowledge-social/

# Kitcher, Phillip. 1993. The Advancement of Science: Science Without Legend, Objectivity Without Illusions.Oxford: Oxford University Press.
# –––. 2001. Science, Truth, and Democracy. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.