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The Merton Thesis is an argument about the nature of early experimental science proposed by Robert K. Merton. Similar to Max Weber's famous claim on the link between Protestant ethic and the capitalist economy, Merton argued for a similar positive correlation between the rise of Protestant pietism and early experimental science.[1] The Merton Thesis has resulted in continuous debates.[2].
The Merton Thesis has two distinct parts: Firstly, it says that the changes in the nature of science are due to an accumulation of observations and better experimental technique; secondly, it proposes that the popularity of science in England in 17th century, and the religious demography of the Royal Society (English scientists of that time were predominantly Protestants or Puritans) can be explained by a correlation between Protestantism and the values of the new science.[3] He specifically singles out English Puritanism and German Pietism as causally significant in the development of the scientific revolution of the 17th and 18th centuries. Merton attributes this connection between religious affiliation and sustained interest in science to a strong compatibility between the values of ascetic Protestantism and those associated with modern science.[4]. Protestant values were seen to have had the effect of stimulating scientific research by inviting the empirical and rational quest for identifying the God-given order in the world and for practical applications; just as they legitimized scientific research through religious justifications.[1]
The first part of his thesis has been criticized for insufficient consideration of the roles of mathematics and the mechanical philosophy in the scientific revolution. The second part has been criticized for the difficulty involved in defining who counts as a Protestant of the "right type" without making arbitrary distinctions. It is also criticized for failing to explain why non-Protestants do science (consider the Catholics Copernicus, da Vinci, Descartes, Galileo, or Huygens) and conversely why Protestants of the "right type" are not all interested in science.[3][5][6]
Replying to some of the critics of the Weber-Merton Thesis, Merton suggests that the Puritan ethos was not indispensable, although it did provide major support at that time and place.[7] He also notes that once having obtained institutional legitimacy, science largely severed its ties with religion, finally to become a counterforce, curbing the influence of religion. But as the first push, religion was seen as crucially important to the genesis of the scientific revolution.[1] While the Merton thesis doesn't explain all the causes of the scientific revolution, it does illuminate possible reasons why England was one of its driving motors and the structure of English scientific community.[8]
Merton's 1938 doctoral dissertation, Science, Technology and Society in 17th-Century England, on the connections between religion and the rise of modern science, launched the historical sociology of science and continues to elicit new scholarship.[9] Merton further developed this thesis in other publications.
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Quotes
- "It is the thesis of this study that the Puritan ethic, as an ideal - typical expression of the value - attitudes basic to ascetic Protestantism generally, so canalized the interests of seventeenth century Englishmen as to constitute one important element in the enhanced cultivation of science." -- Robert K. Merton, Science, Technology and Society
- "If this congeniality of the Puritan and the scientific temper partly explains the increased tempo of scientific activity during the later seventeenth century, by no means does it account for the particular foci of scientific and technological investigation. Was the choice of problems a wholly personal concern, completely unrelated to the socio-cultural background ? Or was this selection significantly limited and guided by social forces?" -- Robert K. Merton, Science, Technology and Society
Notes
References
- George Becker, The merton thesis: Oetinger and German Pietism, a significant negative case, Sociological Forum, Issue: Volume 7, Number 4, December 1992
- Bernard I. Cohen (ed.), Puritanism and the Rise of Modern Science: the Merton Thesis, Ruthers University Press, ISBN 0-8135-1530-0
- H. Floris Cohen, The Scientific Revolution: A Historiographical Inquiry, University of Chicago Press, 1994, ISBN 0-226-11280-2
- Gary B. Ferngren, Science and Religion: A Historical Introduction, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2002, ISBN 0-8018-7038-0. Google Print, p.125
- Andrew Gregory, 1998, handouts for course 'The Scientific Revolution' at The Scientific Revolution, doc file online
- Russel Heddendorf, Religion, Science, and the Problem of Modernity, JASA 38 (December 1986): 226-231.
- Roy Porter, Mikulas Teich, The Scientific Revolution in National Context, Cambridge University Press, 1992, ISBN 0-521-39699-9, Google Print, p.179
- Piotr Sztompka, Robert K. Merton, in Blackwell Companion to Major Contemporary Social Theorists, George Ritzer (ed.), Blackwell Publishing, 2003, ISBN 1-4051-0595-X Google Print, p.13
Further reading
- Eric V. Snow, Christianity: A Cause of Modern Science?, Impact #298
- Steven Shapin, Understanding the Merton Thesis, Isis, Vol. 79, No. 4 (Dec., 1988), pp. 594-605
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