Scientism and Values.pdf - Ludwig von Mises Institute

248 Scientism and Values
application. Indeed, a true order of being, an objective model of
nature, is not one which man gets out of nature, but one which
he imputes to it. The main scientific task, therefore, is to make of
nature what one will. Objective knowledge being foreclosedfor
nature is undeniably obstinate-subjective .action takes its
place.
In so far as science requires an attitude of radical skepticism
toward relations not yet fixed by scientific resolutions, not yet
proved valid under ever more controlled conditions, it exacts a
pledge for continuous experimentation, every other approach to
gain understanding being but second best. While a fringe of
human and social nature may always. hold out-and will, to that
extent, be beyond understanding-testing will permit ever-increasing
knowledge and control. The confirming of hypotheses
will mean both adding to theoretical insight and reshaping the
social world. Indeed, the constructs of science will make the social
world, since they alone govern and bestow status. It is true that
compliance may be hard to exact, that society may not be infinitely
pliable, that there are imprecise forces at work which keep men
from bending. Yet it is the existence of these very forces which
always poses the initial question. For unless these, too, are controlled,
every statement about the true nature of social or political
things remains tentative. The task, therefore, is to reduce whatever
makes management difficult, to concentrate on those slippery
factors which, though still ungoverned, must be made amenable
to scientific government. As one social scientist has explained,22
Having identified to our satisfaction the relevant factors in a situation,
the next step [in following a scientific method] is to select those which
we can effectively control. The ideal setup is one wherein we can
control every factor. At the present state of the social sciences this is
a mere dream. For one thing, in social science we are still lacking
handles, tongs, pliers or what you will with which to grasp a situational
factor for manipulative purposes.
Poorly equipped though it be, science must put everything
of significance within its grasp. Potentially nothing can be exempt