Attitudes toward eugenics in Germany and Soviet Russia in the 1920s

an examination of science and values

Loren R. Graham

pp. 339-369

in: Daniel Callahan, Tristram Engelhardt (eds), The roots of ethics, Berlin, Springer, 1981

Abstract

Theoretical discussions of the relationship between science and values usually lead to the conclusion that, in a strict sense, science is value-free. If one confines one's attention to the intellectual content of scientific theory, and thereby excludes both the impact of technology on values and the influence of scientists as a political and social group, a persuasive case can be made that science is, indeed, neutral. There is no logical bridge between "is' and "ought."