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CHAPTER TWO— SOME GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ON 

 SCIENCE AND GOVERNMENT 



The Search for a Common Ground 



The interaction of science and poKtics has often proved rewarding 

 to mankind. Great periods of science have had direct bearing on 

 pohtical innovation and advance. For example, the scientific achieve- 

 ments of Isaac Newton, early in the 18th century, were the primary 

 motivating force in the "age of reason," a period in which, perhaps for 

 the first time, man perceived the possibility of scientifically designing 

 his government to fit his needs on a practical basis. This rational, 

 analytical approach to the pohtical order was one of the main intellec- 

 tual ingredients of the Constitutional Convention that met in 

 Philadelphia in 1787. 



One of the great accomphshments of science in the 20th century 

 was the development and confu'mation of the theory of equivalence 

 of matter and energy. Up to this time, these two physical quantities 

 had been regarded as separate and unrelated. The theory of the 

 equivalence of matter and energy merged two great sets of informa- 

 tion, linked up two worlds, and generated countless new opportunities 

 for further scientific discovery and practical human benefits. 



The stimulus given to science by this latter event has been matched 

 by the stimulus given to the effort to make effective pohtical use of 

 the skills and methods of science. However, as this effort proceeds, 

 niankind encounters the extremely difficult task of reconciling scien- 

 tific values with human values. For there is no theory of the equiv- 

 alence of the physical world and the normative world. The values of 

 science remain distinct from the values of poHtics. 



Even between the scientist and the poHtician, in a piure sense, there 

 are differences in habits of thought and language. These differences 

 can easily be exaggerated, and are rarely as pure as the follo^ving 

 enumeration might be taken to imply. However, for purposes of sim- 

 plicity, the important differences in tendency between these two 

 groups can be stated in absolute terms, as follows: 



The vocabidary of science is elaborate and specialized, but 

 objective and factual; that of politics is more everyday, and is 

 centered on value judgments. 



The rules of science data differ from the rides of legal evidence: 

 scientific truth is established by objective demonstration and 

 confirmed by replication; political truth is established by con- 

 sensual agreement, usually after an "adversary" contest. 



Science deals ^^dth its subject matter in mainly quantitative 

 terms, pohtics in mainly qualitative terms. 



The subject matter of scientific issues is foreign to the experience 

 of political decisionmakers; few scientists join the ranks of the 

 political decisionmakers, and few political decisionmakers can 

 accept the product of scientific analysis as unqualified guidance 

 in making pohtical decisions. 



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