Scientism and Values.pdf - Ludwig von Mises Institute

116 Scientism and Values
but without these special rights we can have no scientists, judges,. or
intellectuals.
I must now recite the killjoy lesson that exceptional privileges
usually entail exceptional obligations. The intellectual's most important
obligation consists in maintaining a greater degree of independence,
integrity, and candor in his relations with the world than
can be reasonably expected of most men. His primary duty is to tell
the whole tmth as he sees it, in detail as well as, in general. His
primary duty is not to make that truth prevail. In fact, if he slips too
deeply into the tactical maneuvers of social action, especially those
which require close organizational ties, he will, like a judge who
wades in politics, evoke the suspicion that he can no longer be trusted
with his special prerogative. And this suspicion will be justified by
the common experience of mankind. For when an individual becomes
profoundly involved in a program of political action, he usually cannot
be counted on to make a fair assessment of opposing programs.
Such involvement on the part of an intellectual will be enough to
establish the presumption that he has stopped being an intellectual
and can now with propriety be treated as factionalists treat one an-
. other.37
NOTES
1. Arnold W. Green, Sociology (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company,
1960), 3rd ed., p. 7.
2. Talcott Parsons, "Some Problems Confronting Sociology as a Profession,"
American Sociological Review, Vol. XXIV, No.4 (August, 1959), pp.
547-559.
3. Curiously, and perhaps unfortunately, most of these values and goals of
action seem to have one basic source: resentment. Professor George
Simpson of Brooklyn College in his book Sociologist A broad (The
Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1959) writes with charming candor: "Anyone
who hopes to wind up as a good sociologist must, I think, start originally
with some hurt, some feeling of resentment against the society existent,
which leads him to find out what is wrong with that society.
Wishing to relieve his own dissatisfaction, he seeks to universalize his
hurt and is thus led on to discover why human beings have to suffer.
And he will remain a good sociologist only so long as the hurt or resentment
continues to exercise some influence on his professional behavior."
(p. 168.)
4. "The Aims of the Society for· the Study of Social Problems, "Social
Problems, Vol. I (1953), pp. 2-3.
5. "Prospects and Problems in Ethnic Relations," Social Problems, Vol. I
(1958), p. 4.