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John Schaar
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Science Quotes by John Schaar (5 quotes)
For the masses, science is largely a matter of miracle, mystery, and authority. Translated into educational terms, the slogan that through science man has gained increasing knowledge of nature really means that a few men now know a great deal about how nature “works,” while the rest of us are about as ignorant as we have always been. Translated into political terms, the slogan that through knowledge man has gained power really means that a few men have gained the means of unprecedented power over a great many other men.
— John Schaar
In Legitimacy in the Modern State (1981), 29.
Scientifically considered, nature is that which we have divested of mystery, stripped of autonomy, and subjected to our ends. It is that over which we have gained knowledge and manipulative power. This is the meaning concealed in the platitudinous expression that science “conquers nature” and pushes back the boundaries of ignorance and superstition.
— John Schaar
In Legitimacy in the Modern State (1981), 176.
Scientifically considered, nature is that which we have divested of mystery, stripped of autonomy, and subjected to our ends. It is that over which we have gained knowledge and manipulative power. This is the meaning concealed in the platitudinous expression that science “conquers nature” and pushes back the boundaries of ignorance and superstition.
— John Schaar
In Legitimacy in the Modern State (1981), 176.
The future is not a result of choices among alternative paths offered by the present, but a place that is created—created first in the mind and will, created next in activity. The future is not some place we are going to, but one we are creating. The paths are not to be found, but made, and the activity of making them, changes both the maker and the destination.
— John Schaar
In Legitimacy in the Modern State (1981), 321.
We are taught that the three great planning and control processes of modern society—bureaucracy, technology, and science—are all value-free means or instruments, just tools, which men must decide how to use by standards drawn from some other source than the realms of science, technology, and bureaucracy.
— John Schaar
In Legitimacy in the Modern State (1981), 35.
In science it often happens that scientists say, 'You know that's a really good argument; my position is mistaken,' and then they would actually change their minds and you never hear that old view from them again. They really do it. It doesn't happen as often as it should, because scientists are human and change is sometimes painful. But it happens every day. I cannot recall the last time something like that happened in politics or religion.
(1987) -- 
