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AN ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS OF Brian R. Schefke for the degree of Master of Arts in History of Science presented on August 11, 2000. Title: Morality and Materialism: American Conservatives and Science, 1945-1964. Redacted for Privacy Abstract approved: aid E.Doel Following World War II, the United States enjoyed unprecedented power and prestige. The wartime alliance with the Soviet Union quickly collapsed amid mutual suspicion and fear, however, resulting in the Cold War. Science was a significant political component in that ideological conflict. In the United States, inspired by Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal, many placed their confidence in the ability of science to improve the human condition. By contrast, American conservatives viewed the New Deal much more negatively; they were also ambivalent about the promise of modem science. A few even saw a troubling acceptance of the superiority of science over other forms of knowledge, a view they labeled as "scientism." Conservatives like Richard M. Weaver, the economist Friednch A. Hayek, and others attempted to criticize scientism, but this critique did not take hold. Ultimately, conservatives were unable to enlist scientists in their criticism of scientism; moreover, the overriding importance of anticommunism to the postwar conservative resurgence blunted conservative antiscientism. Conservative scientists, while dissenting from their left-liberal peers in the realm of politics, nonetheless shared with those peers a strong belief in the positive values of science. In addition, conservative scientists often emphasized the importance of Western science to freedom, in contrast to communist science supposedly tainted by ideology. As conservatives recognized the value of science to their own political goals, the antiscientistic critique faded. This conservative view, hitherto neglected in the historical literature, was and remains an important part of the interaction of science and politics in America during the twentieth century. Morality and Materialism: American Conservatives and Science, 1945-1964 by Brian R. Schefke A THESIS submitted to Oregon State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Presented August 11, 2000 Commencement June 2001 Master of Arts thesis of Brian R. Schefke presented on August 11, 2000 APPRO Redacted for Privacy Majr Profssor, representing History of Science Redacted for Privacy Chair of Department of History Redacted for Privacy Dean of O'rdthte School I understand that my thesis will become part of the permanent collection of Oregon State University libraries. My signature below authorizes release of my thesis to any reader upon request. Redacted for Privacy Brian R. Schefke, Author TABLE OF CONTENTS Page INTRODUCTION.............................................................................................................1 THE CONSERVATIVE RESURGENCE......................................................................11 EarlyRumblings....................................................................................................... 14 TraditionAnd Order.................................................................................................25 The "Nightmare In Red"........................................................................................... 36 Summary.................................................................................................................. 41 THE INTELLECTUALS ON SCIENCE: HAYEK, WEAVER, ANDNATIONAL REVIEW.......................................................................................................................... 44 HayekAs A Libertarian........................................................................................... 46 Weaver As A Traditionalist..................................................................................... 58 The Gathering:National Review............................................................................78 Summary................................................................................................................. 89 SCIENTISTS AND CONSERVATISM....................................................................... 92 Scientists And Anticommunism............................................................................... 95 Scientists And The Congress Of Cultural Freedom.................................................. 99 TheHungarian Circle.............................................................................................. 107 Scientists In Government........................................................................................ 117 Summary................................................................................................................. 120 CONCLUSION...........................................................................................................125 BIBLIOGRAPHY....................................................................................................... 132 Morality and Materialism: American Conservatives and Science, 1945-1964 Introduction Perhaps the most enduring symbol of the twentieth century is the Second World War and its 50-year political aftermath, the Cold War. In that period of conflict, the links between science and politics in America, though not new, were strengthened considerably. Increasingly, science was linked to national goals of economic prosperity and political influence. This was evident in the proliferation of "big science" projects, consumer goods, and military technologies. Yet discussions about science did not only center on science and technology themselves, but also around their political implications. It is appropriate, therefore, to examine the relationship between science and, for lack of a better term, political ideology. What did science mean to intellectuals in the United States, both scientists and non-scientists, in the context of the early Cold War period? Fundamentally, science was a significant component in that ideological conflict between Western-style capitalist democracy and Soviet-style communiSm. Few analyses of the relationship between science and politics consider connections between conservatism and science, perhaps outofan assumption that science allied with political and economic elites already defines that relationship. There was, however, a conservative critique of science in the early Cold War period. Conservatives did not always see science as the vanguard of American progress and prosperity; rather, some believed that science ought play a limited role in American life. In this work, I aim to elucidate the relationship between conservative intellectuals, science, and scientists during the Cold War. There are several questions that arise. What was the critique of science by conservatives in this time penod? Did scientists who considered themselves conservative, or appeared to be more conservative than their peers, share this criticism? Given that most critical study of science among intellectuals comes from the left today, what happened to the right-wing critique? In attempting to answer these questions, this analysis may shed more light on the shifting links between science and politics, especially in the charged atmosphere of the postwarworld.1 More specifically, what conservatives feared was "scientism," defined as the "pejorative term for the belief that the methods of the natural sciences, or the categories and things recognized in natural science, form the only proper elements in any philosophical or other inquiry." Conservatives saw an ever-optimistic faith in the power of the scientific method as a misguided meliorism that ignored transcendent truths that could not be revealed through scientific study. In their own writings that reflected their anxieties, conservatives used terms like "science" and "technology" in a broad manner, hence one is tempted to believe that conservatives were antiscientific. This, however, goes too far. Many conservative intellectuals stated that they did not oppose science in its proper sphere, which they often defined as the classification of natural phenomena. What alarmed conservatives was the application of natural science technique to the study of society and man in a way that appeared to reject subjective philosophy yet produced value judgments. Furthermore, many conservatives feared the ascendancy of a Though religion, particularly Christianity, played an important role in conservative thought of the time, conservative criticism of science was not grounded in religion alone. Conservative religious rhetoric, at least among "mainstream" thinkers, was woven into a broader context of conservative philosophy and was generally less strident than that of today's "religious right". For these reasons, I do not address explicitly religious aspects of conservatism and conservative criticism of science in great detail in this thesis. See Ronald L. Numbers, The Creationists (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1992); Richard Hofstadter, Anti- Intellectualism in American Life (New York: Vintage Books, 1963); and James Gilbert, Redeeming Culture: American Religion in an Age of Science (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1997). technocratic elite that saw itself as comprising the best leaders of the people due to its "scientific", and hence "proper", worldview.2 The nascent antiscientistic critique, however, did not take hold as a major conservative intellectual project. Except in the case of a few areas, such as that of evolution, there appears to be