an die writes:
> > Chris and Shane evidently think that science is
> insulated
> > from social influence, somehow , magically, being
> separated
> > from all other kinds of beliefs in that they are
> directly
> > connected with The Truth whatever the social context
> or
> > social interest that surrounds them.
But 'influenced by' and 'reducible to' are not the same. For sure natural sciences are influenced by fleeting social exigencies, but they are not reducible to them. Scientists developed nylon in the Second World War to replace silk in parachutes, but making nylon is not the same as warmongering. Whatever the conditions for the discovery of the chemical processes that lead to the molecular bonding that makes polymers (including nylon) this is still a property of polymers, not of warmongering.