Science Under Fire: Challenges To Scientific Authority In Modern America PDF
Preview Science Under Fire: Challenges To Scientific Authority In Modern America
SCIENCE UNDER FIRE SCIENCE UNDER FIRE Challenges to Scientific Authority in Modern America ANDREW JEWET T Cambridge, Massachusetts London, England 2020 Copyright © 2020 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College All rights reserved Printed in the United States of Amer i ca First printing Jacket design: Jill Breitbarth Jacket photo: Georgijevic/iStock/Getty Images Plus 9780674247086 (EPUB) 9780674247093 (MOBI) 9780674247109 (PDF) Publication of this book has been supported through the generous provisions of the Maurice and Lula Bradley Smith Memorial Fund. The Library of Congress has cataloged the printed edition as follows: Names: Jewett, Andrew, 1970– author. Title: Science under fire : challenges to scientific authority in modern America / Andrew Jewett. Description: First. | Cambridge, Massachusetts : Harvard University Press, 2020. | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2019044010 | ISBN 9780674987913 (cloth) Subjects: LCSH: Science—Social aspects—United States—History—20th century. | Science—Social aspects—United States—History—21st century. | Science— Political aspects—United States—History—20th century. | Science—Political aspects— United States—History—21st century. | Science—Moral and ethical aspects— United States—History—20th century. | Science—Moral and ethical aspects— United States—History—21st century. | Political culture—United States. | Truthfulness and falsehood—Political aspects—United States. Classification: LCC Q175.52.U5 J49 2020 | DDC 303.48/30973—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019044010 C O N T E N T S Introduction: Science as a Cultural Threat 1 1. Mental Modernization 24 2. Resisting the Modern 46 3. Science and the State 66 4. Social Engineering 84 5. Modernity and Scientism 104 6. The Humanistic Opposition 120 7. A New Right 138 8. Cross- Fertilization 156 9. A New Left 177 10. Skepticism Instantiated 204 11. Science as Culture 229 Conclusion: Humanizing Science 258 Notes 267 Acknowl edgments 331 Index 335 SCIENCE UNDER FIRE INTRODUCTION Science as a Cultural Threat today, science is under fire as never before in the United States. Even amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Donald Trump and his Republican allies dismiss the findings of health experts as casually as they do those of climate scientists. Most top Republicans also challenge Darwinism, and many of their followers reject the Big Bang theory as well. Indeed, conserva- tives sometimes portray scientists as agents of a liberal conspiracy against American institutions and values. Since the 1990s, GOP leaders have worked to limit the influence of scientists in areas ranging from global warming to contraception to high school biology curricula. By 2016, Re- publican skepticism t oward the scientific establishment had grown so strong that the Democ ratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton drew wild ap- plause for simply stating, “I believe in science.” Since then, Trump’s admin- istration has challenged climate researchers, epidemiologists, and other experts more forcefully than ever. But it is not just conservatives who question scientific authority in the United States. Alarm at many applications of biological research, for ex- ample, crosses party lines. This impulse usually targets gen e tic engineering and biotechnology, but it also fosters skepticism toward vaccination and other medical practices. Across the pol iti cal spectrum, in fact, citizens tend to pick and choose among scientific theories and applications based on pre- existing commitments. They are frequently suspicious of basic research procedures as well. Many believe that peer review and other internal policing mechanisms fail to remove power ful biases. Conservatives often
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