Potentiality and actuality: a multi-dimensional critique on value-free science

Abstract

In the traditional conception of science, science needs to be autonomous from society and its values in order to maintain its integrity and the objectivity of its knowledge. This amounts to the claim that science is "value-free". This thesis aims to answer two questions, namely whether science is value-free, and if so, whether its knowledge and applications can contribute to social progress. To answer these questions, I made use of the feminist philosophy of science from Helen E. Longino and the critical theory of Herbert Marcuse. Marcuse shows that if science is value-free, it cannot be socially responsible. Science needs to be valorized, and Longino has a proposal for such a valorization. This thesis is relevant for the contemporary discussion with respect to the problems associated with the commercialization of scientific research.