Putting pragmatism to work in the Cold War: Science, technology, and politics in the writings of James B. Conant

This paper examines James Conant’s pragmatic theory of science—a theory that has been neglected by most commentators on the history of 20^th-century philosophy of science—and it argues that this theory occupied an important place in Conant’s strategic thinking about the Cold War. Conant drew upon his wartime science policy work, the history of science, and Quine’s epistemological holism to argue that there is no strict distinction between science and technology, that there is no such thing as “the scientific method,” and that theories are better interpreted as policies rather than creeds. An important consequence that he drew from these arguments is that science is both a thoroughly value-laden, and an intrinsically social, enterprise. These results led him to develop novel proposals for reorganizing scientific and technological research—proposals that he believed could help to win the Cold War. Interestingly, the Cold War had a different impact upon Conant’s thinking than it did upon many other theorists of science in postwar America. Instead of leading him to “the icy slopes of logic,” it led him to develop a socially- and politically-engaged theory that was explicitly in the service of the American Cold War effort.     

意大利的科研与第三使命评价及对中国的启示

当前,我国科技评价正处于“破四唯”改革的关键时期,探索新的评价方法是科技界关注的焦点。本文选择意大利科研评价作为案例,通过对意大利科研评价机构和评价实践的全面解析与深入研究,包括专家选择、评价流程、结果应用等,提炼总结了意大利科研评价的理念、方法、制度等方面的特点,特别是与中国的不同之处,发现意大利的科研评价体现出了政府主导、代表作制度、按学科分类评价、评价结果的作用强等特点。意大利的科研与第三使命评价对我国科技评价改革具有一定的启示意义,尤其体现在以下四个方面：1）重视同行评议与量化方法的互补性,避免过度依赖量化指标;2）强化和规范科技评价结果的公开与使用,引导和激励改进;3）重视大学与科研机构的第三使命与社会影响评价,促进科技成果转化;４）逐步引导周期式评价向常态化监测转变,形成实时反馈机制。