![]() ![]() ![]() Liberalism is the political theory that animates the liberal democratic republic by affirming the autonomy of individuals and their rights to property, to freedom of thought and speech, and to participate in government.Īlthough seldom explicitly invoked by scientists, liberalism also underpins what British chemist Michael Polanyi named the “republic of science,” in which “scientists, freely making their own choice of problems and pursuing them in the light of their own personal judgment, are in fact cooperating as members of a closely knit organization.” It was the theory embedded implicitly in Science, the Endless Frontier, the 1945 report from science administrator Vannevar Bush that influenced the structure of the postwar American research enterprise: “Scientific progress on a broad front results from the free play of free intellects, working on subjects of their own choice, in the manner dictated by their curiosity for exploration of the unknown.” Liberalism remains the unstated ideal of many scientists and engineers, for both their own professional communities and the larger societies in which they live.īut today liberalism, and liberal democracy as a form of government, appears beset by problems both internal and external. ![]()
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