Abstract
DURING the past generation, scientific men have generally adopted an attitude of indifference to politics, and active interest or participation in political controversy has been discouraged by the leaders of British science. It must be admitted that there is much to justify a policy of aloofness. The world of political discourse is pre-eminently emotive, and political controversy proceeds with little regard for the standards which make up the professional ethic of scientific workers. The wrong things are done for the right reasons: the right things are done for the wrong reasons. Effective action calls for an opportunism alien to the temperament of genuine research, and the issues which divide political parties have little relation to the creative possibilities of applying science on a larger scale to the advancement of human welfare.
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Science and Citizenship. Nature 137, 883–884 (1936). https://doi.org/10.1038/137883a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/137883a0