Schizophrenic About Science
The "Party of Science" Is Nothing of the Sort
by Regis Nicoll
When President Obama, newly elected and riding high on the wave of hopes he had created, announced in his inaugural address, "We will restore science to its rightful place," he was really making two points: (1) The previous administration, with its anti-science policies, had nearly run our ship-of-state aground on its voyage of social progress; and (2) his administration, in contrast, would be guided by science and so would free our vessel from the shoals of stagnation and steer a new course toward unending human betterment. In short, the "Party of Science," he suggested, would bring us smoothly and safely back to the calm seas of progress.
In fact, however, for the better part of four decades the ship has been caught between the currents of modernism and the riptides of postmodernism, and risks foundering in treacherous waters that the "Party of Science" does not fully understand and is unable to negotiate.
Recent Comments