diggers, or to the horse-raiser, the harness-maker, the wheelwright. It has 

 been nobody's business if the iceman and others Hke him feel themselves 

 pushed out of modern life, with all its exciting improvements. 



It should not be difficult for us to understand why the iceman found 

 natural ice superior to mechanical, or artificial, ice. Or why the harness- 

 maker thought that it must be bad for our insides to be shaken up by the 

 automobile. Or why the candlemaker and dealer in oil lamps suspected that 

 electric light must be bad for the eyes. If we have used these various mod- 

 ern devices without harm, we may suspect that persons are biased in their 

 judgments by their special interests. 



Science Is Objective In scientific research it is necessary to guard 

 against the fact that we are all influenced by our interests, by our earlier 

 experiences and associations. We are all likely to form advance judgments, 

 or pre-judices. Scientists therefore try very hard, in thinking of their prob- 

 lems, to avoid the usual human concerns and anxieties and purposes as much 

 as possible. We say diat the scientist tries to describe what is, no matter 

 what the effect may be on people's likes or dislikes, their losses or profits. 

 That is what is meant by saying that "science attempts to form judgments 

 uninfluenced by considerations of value". 



One of the unfortunate consequences of separating "value" considerations 

 from scientific pursuits is that many grow up with the idea that there is 

 some special virtue in disregarding human feelings and interests. That is 

 why scientists often appear "cold", or indifferent to people's sentiments. 

 When the scientist watches his microscopic preparations and his test tubes 

 and his indicators, he must not let himself or his observations be influenced 

 by what he would like the results to be. He must record unflinchingly just 

 exactly what he finds. But it is foolish to pretend that the scientist's efforts 

 and results are "good for their own sake". 



The efforts and findings of the scientist, aside from amusing the scientist, 

 are good only because they may help human beings ease their difficulties, 

 solve their real problems, enrich their lives. To be sure, we must not expect 

 the scientist to tell us day by day of what use his findings are. Some dis- 

 coveries are not ready for us to use until many years after the discoverer is 

 dead. Some cannot be used until after certain other discoveries have been 

 made, or certain devices have been perfected. But we do have a right to ask 

 the scientist whether he conceives his efforts to be of human value, or of 

 interest to himself alone. We have a right to ask this because the scientist's 

 work is really paid for by all of us, and it is made possible by the accumula- 

 tions of learnings and ideas from the past. These inheritances from the past 

 belong, of course, equally to all of us; but the scientist is the person who has 

 had the opportunity to master a part of this heritage and is in a position to 

 manage it. He manages it, however, as society's custodian. 



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