Science, Democracy, and the American University: From the Civil War to the Cold War

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Cambridge University Press, Oct 29, 2012 - History - 402 pages
This book reinterprets the rise of the natural and social sciences as sources of political authority in modern America. Andrew Jewett demonstrates the remarkable persistence of a belief that the scientific enterprise carried with it a set of ethical values capable of grounding a democratic culture - a political function widely assigned to religion. The book traces the shifting formulations of this belief from the creation of the research universities in the Civil War era to the early Cold War years. It examines hundreds of leading scholars who viewed science not merely as a source of technical knowledge, but also as a resource for fostering cultural change. This vision generated surprisingly nuanced portraits of science in the years before the military-industrial complex and has much to teach us today about the relationship between science and democracy.
 

Contents

THE SCIENTIFIC SPIRIT
21
Science and Philosophy
83
Science and Disciplinarity
98
Scientific Citizenship
117
SCIENCE AND POLITICS
225
The Problem ofValues
272
IO TWo Cultures
302
Accommodation
335
Science and Democracy in a New Century
365
Index
375
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About the author (2012)

Andrew Jewett is Associate Professor of History and Social Studies at Harvard University, where he also participates in the History of American Civilization and Science, Technology, and Society graduate programs. He received his PhD from the University of California at Berkeley and previously taught at Yale University, Vanderbilt University, and New York University. He has held fellowships from the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Education/Spencer Foundation, and the Cornell Society for the Humanities.