Friday, March 23, 2007

Keep politics out of science and vice versa

So the follow up to my post below on environmentalism as dogma and ideology closer to religion than science, it this excellent post by Brendan O'Neill on the interplay between science and politics manifest in the AGW ecomyth. He suggests the real problem is that science is being actively use to frame politics and that its mis-use in this fashion does a disservice to us, to science and to the political process. Hopefully, his reasoned comments will provide an area of agreement for all viewpoints: the ideological high ground needs to be clarified and cultivated.

Sadly, I deal all too often with academics who show no cognition that the political use of their science is either a problem or an ideological activity. There will be no consensus on the morality of the politicization of science if scientists fail to acknowledge their complicity in its corruption and their recognition that the ends do not justify the means. (I'm sure I stated this on other posts: it seems to be a recurrent theme concerning ecomyth propagation).