The Place of Science in Modern Civilisation, and Other EssaysVeblen, Thorstein
Philosophy
The Place of Science in Modern Civilisation, and Other Essays
Veblen, Thorstein
Economics; Science
industry; the matter-of-fact theories were accepted as substantial and
ultimate only for the purposes of industry, only as technological
maxims, and were beneath the dignity of science.
With the transition to modern times industry comes into the foreground
in the west-European scheme of life, and the institutions of European
civilisation fall into a more intimate relation with the exigencies of
industry and technology. The technological range of habituation
progressively counts for more in the cultural complex, and the
discrepancy between the technological discipline and the discipline of
law and order under the institutions then in force grows progressively
less. The institutions of law and order take on a more impersonal, less
coercive character. Differential dignity and invidious discriminations
between classes gradually lose force.
The industry which so comes into the foreground and so affects the
scheme of institutions is peculiar in that its most obvious and
characteristic trait is the workmanlike initiative and efficiency of the
individual handicraftsman and the individual enterprise of the petty
trader. The technology which embodies the theoretical substance of this
industry is a technology of workmanship, in which the salient factors
are personal skill, force and diligence. Such a technology, running as
it does in great part on personal initiative, capacity, and application,
approaches nearer to the commonplace features of the institutional
fabric than many another technological system might; and its
disciplinary effects in some considerable measure blend with those of
the institutional discipline. The two lines of habituation, in the great
era of handicraft and petty trade, even came to coalesce and fortify one
another; as in the organisation of the craft gilds and of the industrial
towns. Industrial life and usage came to intrude creatively into the
cultural scheme on the one hand and into the scheme of authentic
knowledge on the other hand. So the body of matter-of-fact knowledge, in
modern times, is more and more drawn into the compass of theoretical
inquiry; and theoretical inquiry takes on more and more of the animus
and method of technological generalisation. But the matter-of-fact
elements so drawn in are construed in terms of workmanlike initiative
and efficiency, as required by the technological preconceptions of the
era of handicraft.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account