The scientific life : a moral history of a late modern vocation

488 Pages·2008·2.749 MB·English

by  Shapin, Steven

The Scientific Life

The Scientific Life
a moral history of a late modern vocation
s t e v e n s h a p i n
TheUniversityofChicagoPress ChicagoandLondon
steven shapinistheFranklinL.FordProfessoroftheHistoryofScienceatHarvard
University.HeistheauthorofASocialHistoryofTruth,TheScientificRevolution,and,with
SimonSchaffer,LeviathanandtheAir-Pump.Heisalsoafrequentcontributortothe
LondonReviewofBooksandhaswrittenfortheNewYorker.
TheUniversityofChicagoPress,Chicago60637
TheUniversityofChicagoPress,Ltd.,London
(cid:2)C 2008byTheUniversityofChicago
Allrightsreserved.Published2008
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 09 08 1 2 3 4 5
isbn-13:978-0-226-75024-8(cloth)
isbn-10:0-226-75024-8(cloth)
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Shapin,Steven.
Thescientificlife:amoralhistoryofalatemodernvocation/StevenShapin.
p. cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
isbn-13:978-0-226-75024-8(cloth:alk.paper)
isbn-10:0-226-75024-8(pbk.)
1. Scientists—Moralandethicalaspects. 2. Science—Economicaspects. I. Title.
q180.55.m67s53 2008
(cid:3)
174.95—dc22 2008004588
(cid:2)∞Thepaperusedinthispublicationmeetstheminimum
requirementsoftheAmericanNationalStandardforInformation
Sciences—PermanenceofPaperforPrintedLibraryMaterials,ansiz39.48-1992.
For
barbara rosenkrantz
&
nat marshall
Vocation
designationordestinationtoaparticularstate
orprofession;acallingbythewillofGod;summons;call;
inducement;employment;calling;occupation;trade
Nuttall’sStandardDictionary,1913
asummonsorstronginclinationtoaparticularstateor
courseofaction;especially:adivinecalltothereligiouslife;
anentryintothepriesthoodorareligiousorder;
theworkinwhichapersonisregularlyemployed
Merriam-Webster’sOnlineDictionary
One’sordinaryoccupation,business,orprofession
OxfordEnglishDictionary,1989
Contents
Acknowledgments ix Preface xiii
*
.
1 KnowledgeandVirtue: 1
TheWayWeLiveNow
.
2 FromCallingtoJob: 21
Nature,Truth,Method,andVocationfromthe
SeventeenthtotheNineteenthCenturies
.
3 TheMoralEquivalenceoftheScientist: 47
AHistoryoftheVeryIdea
.
4 WhoIstheIndustrialScientist? 93
TheViewfromtheTower
.
5 WhoIstheIndustrialScientist? 127
TheViewfromtheManagers
.
6 TheScientistandtheCivicVirtues: 165
TheMoralLifeofOrganizedScience
.
7 TheScientificEntrepreneur: 209
Money,Motives,andthePlaceofVirtue
.
8 VisionsoftheFuture: 269
UncertaintyandVirtueintheWorldof
High-TechandVentureCapital
TheWayWeLiveNow: 305
Epilogue
*
Notes315
Bibliography 401 Index441
Acknowledgments
Myrespectformyacademiccolleagues,andmyappreciationofthemany
demands on their time, are so great that I have not inflicted the com-
pletedmanuscriptofthisbookonanyofthem.RebeccaHerzigofBates
College was kind enough to read large portions of it about two years
beforeitwasdone,andhercriticismswereenormouslyperceptiveand
constructive—morehelpfulthanIdeserve.ChrisPhillipsinmydepart-
mentatHarvardworkedwithmeinthelaststages,helpingmeassemble
thebookand,especially,tryingtoshortenit,andIowehimaverygreat
debt.NeitherRebeccanorChris,ofcourse,bearstheslightestresponsi-
bilityforremainingflaws.
IwantespeciallytomentionmyformerstudentCharlesThorpe,who
wasanessentialinterlocutorduringtheearlystagesofwritingandthink-
ingandwhoassistedintheethnographicpartsofchapter7.Theintermit-
tentgesturestohisworkonOppenheimerdonotadequatelyreflectthe
extentofhiscontribution.IalsowishtoacknowledgeMarkPeterJones,a
formerstudentintheSociologyDepartmentoftheUniversityofCalifor-
nia,SanDiego,whosedoctoralthesisonentrepreneurialbiotechisarich
andresonantsourceforanyoneinterestedinlatemoderntechnoscience
and entrepreneurial science, and who made a large number of critical
comments,bothstylisticandsubstantive,afterthemanuscripthadbeen
submitted,manyofwhichItriedtoactupon.
ThenumberofpeoplewithwhomIhavetalkedovermanyyearsabout
the substance of various parts of the book is very large, and most of