Representatives of modern science and its social institutions have repeatedly claimed that science is value free, and this claim has contributed to marginalizing serious discussion of the relations among science, technology, and values. Lying behind this claim is the philosophical view that there is not just a distinction but a sharp separation, an unbridgeable gap or dichotomy, between fact and value. The supposed fact/value dichotomy arose at the beginning of the seventeenth century, accompanying the early works of modern science, underpinning an interpretation of their character and epistemic status and became part of the mainstream tradition of modern science (Proctor 1991). Prior to that, it was not a major issue in philosophical thinking about science.

Science and Technology as Value Free

The claim that science is value free is that science deals exclusively with facts and—at its core—admits of no proper place...