Philosophy of Science- Chapter 7- final chapter

     Okasha closes out the book with a short chapter on science and its critics. Choosing to pass on discussing the tension between science and religion presented in the book (I do not care to get into a religious debate), I will focus on the value of science and whether is comes at a cost and if that cost is worth it. We can all debate that science can be used for good and bad, example of good would be medicine and an example of bad would be nuclear weapons. However, perhaps it is not the science that is the issue, it the way humans choose to use their findings. Okasha makes a case on page 129 stating, “But cases such as these do not show that there is something ethically objectionable about scientific knowledge itself. It is the use to which that knowledge is put that is unethical.” Science is concerned with facts, and facts have no ethical value. It is our choosing as humans and what we do with the facts that creates the ethical/unethical lines. But those vary from society to society, generation to generation. What may be acceptable in one society or era may not be in another. So how do we determine who decides how the information is utilized? Leave it to a vote by the people? Give it to the governing bodies to deal with? Sell it to the highest bidder? And here I feel is where we begin to see the downfall of humanity… the corruption, deceit, lies… people of power, leaders, ‘best interest’ parties are often found at the top of the societal food chain thus controlling the outcome of newly obtained knowledge and seek to profit from it, no matter the means. Why is it so difficult to keep science and it’s findings amongst those who see value in its progress and see the bigger picture of how it can serve humanity in its entirety instead of to the highest bidder? Until we view all humans as equal on this ‘pale blue dot’ (thanks Carl Sagan), science and its advances I fear will continue to be corrupted and the ultimate demise of our species.