NATS 1760 Lecture Notes - Lecture 17: Zeitgeist, Technoscience, Shill
5 Jan 2016
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Document Summary
A decline in public respect in accorded science compared to what was pre-1960s. A decline in public respect in accorded science in comparison with the expertise held by non-scientists. The sociological study of science (sts) reflects and informs this change in how scientific expertise is configured within democratic societies. Science offered an iconic/heroic image of expertise during the decade after wwii: technoscientific victory included nuclear technology, health, forecasting, etc. But is then contrasted with later outcomes: nuclear accidentals, environmental degradation, climate change, etc. Despite technoscience achievements, there is still a crisis: a changing focus upon technoscientific failures instead of successes. Until the 1960s, philosophers and historians attempted to explain what made science distinct and successful. Philosophers argued that only scientific theories could be falsified by observation. Historians showed how scientific discoveries might appear as a result of all sorts of different (political or social factors) and only confirmed on the basis of standards internal to science.
