Is science an unbiased search for truth?

Question

Or do issues of power, status, careers, money, ideology and intellectual conservatism come into defining the scientific paradigm at any one time?

How would you quantify the disinterested search for truth, when it comes to the scientific enterprise? 0% 10%? 50%? 90%? 100%

Answer 1

Science is an unbiased search for knowledge. "Truth", in common usage, is subjective.

Money is always necessary for any activity. Availability of money may influence the research topic but not the result. However the publication of the result can be constrained by economic, political or religious pressure.

Answer 2

Science is generally unbiased, but the subjects that are chosen to be researched and what happens with the results of the research in general, is not.

My problem is that I am free to work on what I like, but in general the funding is biased. Certain subjects are more favored than others. So it becomes a trade-off.

But I am an optimist: my guess would be unbiased for 75%.

Answer 3

of course  you are wrong---send to me more questions

Answer 4

I believe that it should be unbiased but that it is not.  I think there is a natural inclination to prove the position that is popular with whoever is paying your bills.

Answer 5

It's supposed to be.  Of course, everyone is human, and we can't just turn off basic instincts.  That's why science has built-in check systems - such as peer-review.  When you write a paper claiming you've discovered something new, it's sent off to at least one person, sometimes more, who also work in the field and may be inclined to disagree with you.  They look at your work, redo some of your calculations, look at your observations, and determine if you did the science correctly - without missing something big or drawing the wrong conclusions from the data.  Then this guy writes up a report and sends it to the editor of the journal, who makes sure the report is fair.  All these checks are in place to do the best job of getting true science out, without bias.

Sure, a few papers make it out that are later shown to be wrong - but that's how science works.  It's self-correcting, if you wait long enough.  That overcomes any political, power-struggles, ideology, and everything else.  If you're right, it will come out in the wash.

Answer 6

Science is search the truth of the "material" world and whatever is connected to the "material" world.

Science is checked, double-checked and verified with the scientific method.

Science is developed by human beings, so here everything is possible, for the good, the bad and worst:  errors, cheating, mistakes, greed, money, prestige ...

A good example of this is an important discovery, DNA, narrated by James Watson.

http://books.google.ca/books?id=ew_TrfCN...