Value-free scientific posture masks scholars’ ties to state power
Evidence
All of this is not presented from the point of view of scholars interested in changing these societies into “mature” ones, but from the perspective of neutral, objective, and value-free scientists. No allowances are made for what positions such scientists (however neutral and value-free they may be) occupy in relation to corporate and governmental powers, what roles their investigations play in the conduct of governmental policies towards the Muslim world, what the methodological implications of psychology are for the study of a weak society by a stronger one. — Edward W. Said, Covering Islam, 322
Categorization
- XREF: Extends the reader’s material on how claims to procedural neutrality and value-freedom function as substitutes for substantive accountability. — connects to: Scientific-technological ordering is inherently political — Herbert Marcuse, One-Dimensional Man: Studies in the…, 618; Empirical-analytic sciences secretly carry a technical cognitive interest masked as value-freedom. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 2423; Climate and health experts also hide financial ties, making capture profession-wide — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 582