Scientific fraud and politics
When I teach Philosophy of Science, one of the books I use is Martin Gardner’s excellent Great Essays in Science, with selections from Charles Darwin, Albert Einstein, Carl Sagan, and other greats.
The course has a unit on scientific fraud, including examples of the destructive effects of the politicization of science. Gardner’s anthology includes two from the history of politics and science — Stalin’s Soviet Union and Hitler’s Nazi Germany.
A sad thing about the “Climategate” or “Warmergate” scandal is that we will now have to revise the textbooks and add our own politicized scientific culture to that sorry list.
We learned successfully why and how to separate politics and religion.
Will we be able to learn the exact same lesson about politics and science?
The lesson is not only about politics. The core lesson is about the corruption of philosophy (especially epistemology), which has enabled an entire generation of journalists, activists, and politicians to be intellectually disarmed by a group of frauds — or to become enablers in disarming those who would challenge the frauds. A postmodern philosophical culture indeed.
