Rejection of science—or what is labeled as rejection of science—is a notorious feature of the contemporary cultural and political landscape in the United States. Highly visible instances are dismissals of evolutionary theory, climate change denial, and antivaccine movements. In this deeply researched and thoughtful book, Andrew Jewett describes tensions about science over the past century, with a focus on the 1920s, the 1960s and 1970s, and the present. Jewett argues that the 1920s witnessed the first intense and widespread disputes in the United States over scientific authority. The controversies in this period concerned not only evolutionary theory (e.g., Scopes Trial) but also, and more importantly, modern psychology, which became a fixture in widely read newspapers and periodicals, to the dismay of those attached to religiously grounded understandings of human personality and what constitutes proper child socialization. The second period of tension about science Jewett identifies and examines in depth was the post-WWII decades, especially the 1960s and 1970s. Ironically from the standpoint of the present, it was if anything public intellectuals on the left who expressed dismay and distrust of science. “scientism” was viewed as intrinsically hostile to humanistic values, with soulless technology and an implicitly materialistic worldview posing at least as much risk to the achievement of a just and compassionate society as conservative religious institutions. The final period that Jewett considers is the first two decades of the twenty-first century. The tensions he describes are entirely familiar, but they take on a fresh appearance with the historical backdrop he provides, and his nuanced portrait of the positions of the key protagonists produces a welcome respect for the complexity of ongoing intellectual and political controversies. Over the entire century from the 1920s to the present, the unifying theme in the questioning of scientific authority has been the allegation that scientists, while ostensibly value-neutral, have injected social philosophies into American life that have damaged the social and moral order. Jewett concludes with a plea to approach science more matter-of-factly. Scientific tools can be credited with producing tremendous gains in human well-being but within rather circumscribed domains. Much that is highly valued in the human experience lies outside the reach of modern science.

拒绝科学——或者说是拒绝科学的标签——是美国当代文化和政治格局的一个臭名昭著的特征。非常明显的例子是对进化论的否定、气候变化的否认和反疫苗运动。在这本深入研究和深思熟虑的书中，Andrew Jewett 描述了过去一个世纪以来科学界的紧张局势，重点关注 1920 年代、1960 年代和 1970 年代以及现在。朱伊特认为，1920 年代见证了美国关于科学权威的第一次激烈而广泛的争论。这一时期的争议不仅涉及进化论（例如，Scopes Trial），而且更重要的是，现代心理学成为广泛阅读的报纸和期刊的固定内容，那些依附于以宗教为基础对人的个性以及什么是适当的儿童社会化的理解的人感到沮丧。Jewett 确定并深入研究的关于科学的第二个紧张时期是二战后的几十年，尤其是 1960 年代和 1970 年代。具有讽刺意味的是，从现在的角度来看，左派的公共知识分子表达了对科学的失望和不信任。“科学主义”被视为本质上敌视人文价值观，没有灵魂的技术和含蓄的唯物主义世界观对实现公正和富有同情心的社会构成的风险至少与保守的宗教机构一样大。Jewett 考虑的最后一个时期是 21 世纪的前 20 年。他所描述的紧张局势是完全熟悉的，但他们在他提供的历史背景下焕然一新，他对关键人物立场的细致描绘使人们对正在进行的知识和政治争议的复杂性产生了可喜的尊重。从 1920 年代到现在的整个世纪，质疑科学权威的统一主题一直是指控科学家虽然表面上是价值中立的，但已将社会哲学注入美国生活，破坏了社会和道德秩序。Jewett 最后恳求更实事求是地研究科学。科学工具可以为人类福祉带来巨大收益，但在相当有限的领域内。许多在人类经验中受到高度重视的东西都超出了现代科学的范围。