The Research Of Bernal's Politics Of Science Philosophy Of Science And Technology

This paper is an investigation on Bernal's politics of science on the basis of traditional standard view of science.With exterior manifestation of the scientific function, science has already become the important strategic resource of a country, drawing closer attention of polity in all countries, while the control and intervention of political force on science is reinforced gradually. The interaction between science and politics as well as its influence has become a question which could not be neglected. However, the research of politics of science theory remains lag to a great degree. Since 1980s, it has received great attention from both western and eastern scholars and social activists, becoming one of the most heated topics in theory research. But it lacks for a formalized model. In this case, the research on politics of science urgently needs its context to be established, consolidated and further extended.For a long time, we neglect the more profound ideas of J.D.Bernal, such as the ideas about freedom of science, public participation and democratic control, and so on. Therefore the systematic and general refinement towards J.D.Bernal's politics of science could not be reached. With the gradual exterior manifestation of the scientific function, the influence of J.D.Bernal's politics of science was spreading everywhere, which leads to the further reinforcement of politics in controlling science on a practical level, but the autonomy of science was usually neglected and assaulted. This reveals the specific practical dilemma of Bernal's politics controlling of science.By investigating Bernal's politics of science, we abandon the narrow study on science (evolving to be scientific metrology). At this time, overlooking Bernal's theory, we find that his idea is deep-sighted and systematic, which is worthy of our attention and study. It is helpful for us to come out the practical dilemma of political controlling of science. In order to get out of the practical dilemma of J.D.Bernal's political controlling of science, we must use the view and method in historical materialism, put J.D.Bernal's speech and action into the relative historical background, analyze his politics of science systematically, making clear what his basic guiding principles and logic premise are, and what kind of contents and methods are included. So according to social reality and the development of science, the question how to understand the relationship of science and politics can be answered. Based on this approach, this paper makes a research on J.D.Bernal's politics of science.After careful consideration of Bernal's a series of works published half a century ago, such as《The Social Function of Science》,《Science in History》,《The Freedom of Necessity》,《Maxis and Science》,《Science and society》, we could find that his main idea is to call new polity to control science of which people can make use. By historical investigation on science and society, he summarizes this mediation of science can serve for the main idea. He believes politics must be carrier for people's benefit, while public participation and democratic strategy are the necessary request in political right operation. All of this develop with the growing and using of science, and have obvious political characters. They represent the basic guiding principles of politics ofscience------ that is social history, political mediation and democraticstrategy of science. His idea contains plenty of politics of science contents which is enough to form an integrated system of thought.Based on the thoroughly historical survey of J.D.Bernal's speech and action, we can reveal the cause how J.D.Bernal, as a scientist, had turned to the field of the politics of science, then show the historical and social context of his politics of science, focusing on the logical premise of his thought, refining the basic principles of his politics of science research.In Bernal's time, because science's abusing, as an omnipotent power, science had been doubted and challenged. For achieving the social harmony and human happiness, to balance the relation between science and society becomes the starting pointing of J.D.Bernal's politics of science. Bernal investigated the developing history of science on human society, also analyzed the changes of science in different stages. He tried to find out the historical rules of how science developed in human society, in order to hold the present and future of science. As a subsystem of the social system, science is an open system from the internal and external perspectives. Science is homo-structure with other social elements as an element of social practice. Therefore, it is expectable and manipulating. In the aspect of social history and society, J.D.Bernal revealed "thetriangle system" about modern systemized science in society------that isthe system organized by the politics which can occupy and divide scientific resource, the group of scientists and the public, that provides a theoretical foundation for the public to participate the interaction between science and politics, promoting the public becoming an important element to standardize the action of politics and scientist. Because politics is the carrier of the public power, the participation of the public to manipulate science had become the basic strategy for his theory. This fully presents the J.D.Bernal's view of value that science is for the public. Therefore, J.D.Bernal's views of society, history and value on science construct the logical premise and motive force for his politics of science; the quality of social history, macro-manipulating, the participation of the public and democratic controlling consist of his basic guiding principles. His theory about the freedom and democracy of science, factualism and efficiency, the production and consumption, right and responsibility consist of J.D.Bernal's static theory, while the ideas such as penetration, interaction and adjustment between science and politics, the participation of the public and democratic control of science and the social and political practice of science constitute J.D.Bernal's dynamic theory. I think that all of the above-mentioned constitute J.D.Bernal's politics of science.It is perceived that J.D.Bernal has formed the system of politics of science by adopting the systematic method of analyzing history and society. His thought of politics of science has the characters of being systematic, historic, anti-scientific and idealized, particularly in the theory of political mediation in science, it has a certain sense of idealization and ambiguity. In the real social practice process, J.D.Bernal's theory that science can be planned is well-known to all, while his theories and conceptions of freedom and democracy of science, public participation and democratic control are known by few people. In fact, his politics of science is systemic and deep-sighted, his influence and contribution is also tremendous, which plays a guiding role and should be studied in the social practice of politics and science. At the time when he emphasizes the political mediation of science, J.D.Bernal also makes an adequate explanation of the freedom of science and formed the thought of scientific self-organization. With the emphasis on scientific ethic while advocating the freedom of science, he was also the first scientist and sociologist to put forward the scientific ethics of all the members in the whole process. In order to make the behaviors of the political body and scientific body standardized, he proposed the idea of the public participation to manipulate science, which promoted the change of the formulation of decision-making about science from the model of quintessence or scientists to that of the public participation, and which also accelerated the democratizing progress of science and technology. In the solution of the problem on how to reach the state of seeking factualism and efficiency self-organized science through intervention, he emphasizes the mediation tension between science and politics as well as the policies of democracy both in and outside the science. But he limited his ideas to the theoretic and logic discussion and could not make a valuable answer to the policy mechanism.On the basis of a comprehensive generalization and investigation of J.D.Bernal's politics of science, according to Bernal's self-organization thought, this research is to make an exploration on how to get out of the practical dilemma of political mediation of science. The modern science system is a complicated and opening system with multiple elements and multiple layers. To realize the self-organized evolution of this complicated and opening system for us is to seek the harmony of politics and science and to find an efficient way of seeking truth and efficiency, for the self-organized evolution is one well-optimized way selected and formed in the long evolutional progress of the nature and human world. As for the science system, no matter how it is manipulated by human beings, this self-organized way exists objectively. The destination could be reached as long as we efficiently control the scientific system, adjust the intensity of the control by the outside world so as to make control of the scientific system by the outside world accommodate the self-organized evolution of scientific system. To conclude, it's a question of the interaction between science and politics, which will undoubtedly make us concentrate on the boundary area of the science system and exterior politics system.At first we claim appropriate separation between science and polity. We admit there's a boundary between politics and science, however, we do not mean that they are isolated and separated from each other, but emphasizing the different characters of different entities; separation doesn't mean to isolate politics from science but strengthening the function of the boundary which filters and cushions information. After reviewing the theory of modern society contract, especially the consignation-agent theory put forward by American socialist David.H. Guston, we come to the conclusion that only setting up an intermediate organization and construction an organic ecology boundary between politics and science may control and regulate the degree of opening of the science system and intensity of the outer control, which is worthy of a meaningful try to find a way of self-organization evolution of scientific system. Here this intermediate organization plays double positions: it is the agent of politics as well as the agent of science; it is the consigner of science also the consigner of politics. It crosses the boundary of politics and science. By means of negotiating, talking and supervising, it can control the transmission of information in order to control the degree of opening, and regulate the intensity of politic control, which helps the self-organization to evolve and assure the factualism and efficiency of science. Accordingly, we've proposed the answer in policy and mechanism to the question about how to get out of the J.D.Bernal's practical dilemma of political mediation of science. At last, according to J.D.Bernal's thought of the politics of science as well as exploration of how to come over his practical dilemma of political mediation of science, the present research gives some principles and suggestions about separation between entities, setting up intermediate organizations responsible for distribution of resources and supervision towards the reform of Chinese science and technology administration.The above complete study on J.D.Bernal's politics of science, on one hand, fills a gap and develops J.D.Bernal's study on politics of science; on the other hand, helps ordinary people to have a general interpretation of J.D.Bernal's idea that politics regulates and controls science. Therefore, the present research is the succession and development of J.D.Bernal's thought and theory of the politics of science. From a realistic angle, it has a certain theoretical and practical significance in setting up coordinate relations between science and politics, promoting the political civilization, and developing the science and technology undertaking of our country.