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The positivist dream of a scientific futureNo one can understand what makes the modern world modern without grasping how important the scientific view of the world is. One tiny example: to judge how satisfactory an economy is these days the most important factor is the GDP (gross domestic product). This is the total of everything that is produced or sold in the society. It doesn't matter what is produced or sold, how people feel about their work or what the impact on the environment is. These are either irrelevant or too difficult to quantify. All that matters is the number, and how fast it is increasing. This is the science of economics that informs some of the most important political decisions. To get a deeper appreciation of the role of science in society it is worth going back to some of the earliest ideas - ideas from the time when the modern project was just beginning. Ideas were important then - it was a new and controversial project, and it desperately needed justifying. One particular school of thought which had its moments of craziness but which still proved to be very influential was that of positivism. The founder of the positivist movement was a Frenchman, Count Henri de Saint-Simon (1760-1825). These people were absolutely over the moon about science. They had the highest hopes for this new intellectual endeavour. In the first instance, as science develops, technology will develop, and in the economy that will mean unprecedented levels of production, so there will be an end to scarcity. If everyone can have what they need then there will be no excuse for social dissatisfaction and people throwing stones at the police. There was also the assumption that science could expand to include ethics and politics. All citizens would share a scientific approach to social problems and would calmly reach an agreement about any crisis that might arise because for every problem there must be a single objective prescription telling us how to deal with it. There would be no need any longer for political parties, and once the new scientific order became universal there would cease to be a need for the military. There would be universal peace and social harmony. According to the positivists, anyone who studies societies scientifically will come to the conclusion that people have a need for religion. Since it didn't make sense to continue with a religion that was hostile to science, a new religion was proposed. Instead of the Pope there would be a Council of Newton, and scientists would be priests. Instead of crossing themselves, people would tap the parts of the head where - according to the new science of phrenology* - the impulses of benevolence, order and progress were situated. Although many positivist ideas - like that of the new religion - never really caught on, other beliefs had an enduring influence - like the belief in the perfectibility of human nature and the role of science in enabling us to deal with social problems such as scarcity and social unrest. There is still a widely held assumption that if only everyone in the world could start looking at things in a more scientific way the causes of conflict would be reduced to a minimum. Modern economics, in particular, is still very positivist. There is the objective of unifying the world in a single economic system, and allowing that system to be managed by people trained in the science of economics. One thing the positivists lacked was a sense of humour, but that didn't stop them coming up with some pretty funny ideas. They had a great idea for a new form of clothing. They argued that if you looked at shirts in a purely scientific way you would realise that the buttons should be up the back not the front. Shirts were a great opportunity to promote altruism and cooperation in society. People would surely get into the habit of working harmoniously with each other if they needed assistance to take off and put on their shirts. (* phrenology - the science that mapped the bumps on the head)
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