Anonymous, "Science, Politics and Scientificism", contributed by Gaudys L. Sanclemente, STS Infrastructures, Platform for Experimental Collaborative Ethnography, last modified 29 August 2019, accessed 21 November 2024. https://stsinfrastructures.org/content/science-politics-and-scientificism
Critical Commentary
Oscar Varsavsky quesioned the role of science on peripheral contexts.
What should a scientist do when he concludes that society needs a radical change? Should he engage in political activity in his free time? Should he abandon science and become a professional politician? Or should he abandon his training to contribute to the analysis and preparation of the desired change? Each of these questions was raised and examined by Oscar A. Varsavsky, a former university professor specializing in mathematical models, using his own experience in the Faculty of Exact Sciences of Buenos Aires in the liberal-modernizing period of 1955-1966. One of the results of the study is a persuasive conclusion about the mission of the rebel scientist in pursuit of the creation of a politicized science.