The NATURE AND FUNCTION OF SCIENCE

Abstract

Science, which exists to rebut magic and disprove superstition, is in danger of creating its own magic and encouraging a new superstition. This is due to the ‘jargon’ of science, an abracadabra, which produces results that mystify, and to the release of stupendous forces, to which ignorance gives the quality of The Unknown. It is no exaggeration to say that just as our primitive ancestors stood in superstitious awe and fear of the elemental forces—the sun, the lightning, the storm, the earthquake—and ascribed them to the Supernatural, so today, for the greater part of mankind, man‐made elemental forces, manifested in explosions and radiations, have that same quality of awe and fear. They ascribe them, not to the Supernatural but, to the Superman, the scientist.

Citation

CALDER, R. (1958), "The NATURE AND FUNCTION OF SCIENCE", Aslib Proceedings, Vol. 10 No. 7, pp. 161-170. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb049664