Fiona Moore wrote:
Stephen Date wrote:
There appears to be some kind of correlation between what Karl Popper described as The Open Society and the scientific method.
Broadly speaking, in closed societies knowledge is handed down by tradition which may not be criticised. In open societies, free discussion and rational thought is both accepted and encouraged.
Unfortunately, though, Popper was a sociologist and as such had very little contact with "primitive" societies. Most anthropological accounts suggest that in societies in which knowledge is handed down by tradition there is far more discussion and reinterpretation than Popper and his lot think--
Sociology of science has changed radically since Popper was writing: there's a large body of ethnographic work which emphasizes the social practice of science and the way scientific method acts as a set of ideal principles than reflects day-to-day activity.
Loren Graham writes very interestingly about science in the former Soviet Union (which I'm assuming constitutes a closed society). He tracks the way in which science was abused under the Soviet system (the devastating effect of Lysenkoism on Soviet biology is a particular case he uses), but makes the general conclusion that Soviet science had a number of successes in many fields, and that science can be remarkably robust under stress. The correlation between the 'Open Society' and scientific method is not so straightforward: science is not necessarily a 'Western' activity.
Graham's work also raises some interesting questions about how scientific method might operate as a sort of counter-ethic within societies like the Soviet Union (like Catholicism did in Poland). What would also be interesting, and which I haven't seen, would be comparative ethnographic work which studied the way in which the principles of scientific method were referred to and made 'up front' in the everyday talk of scientists in different societies. Practical problems for such a clearly fruitful body of research might include: 1. the non-existence of the Soviet Union robs us of perhaps the most significant counter-example of science operating successfully under stress; 2. the reliability of information gained from ethnographic studies in situations where people are in fear of their lives if they talk too freely.
Actually, Fiona, have you seen any literature on the second of those?
Oh dear, B7 content... Well, I have no doubt that science would get on OK under the Federation. I wouldn't hold out much hope for sociology, however.
Una