"For Bernal the humanistic and the scientific dimensions were one. His vision of the sort of future that science could make possible for mankind was in total contrast to that of Aldous Huxley's Brave New World. Full automation, nuclear energy, and cybernetics could bring a fuller realisation of human potential. His futuristic sketches grew increasingly better grounded as his Marxism matured, making the society of the future set out in The Social Function of Science far more plausible than the one set out in his earlier work, The World, the Flesh and the Devil. His sense of history was sweeping, stretching back into the ancient past and shooting forward into the coming future."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
(1985/1993) Marxism and the Philosophy of Science: A Critical History. Humanities Press International.
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Desmond_Bernal
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
John Desmond Bernal
John Desmond Bernal (May 10, 1901 – September 15, 1971) was an Irish-born scientist known for pioneering X-ray crystallography in molecular biology, and considered one of the United Kingdom's most well-known and controversial scientists.
35 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by John Desmond Bernal →
Related Quotes
"[T]radition links us with the revolutionary science of the Renaissance... we can distinguish... four major periods of…"
"He idealized science not just as knowledge but in a political sense too, believing that the management of human affai…"
"The theme which constantly recurs is the complex interaction between techniques, science, and philosophy. Science sta…"
"The progress in science has been anything but uniform in time and place. ...In the course of time the centres of scie…"
"Never had Frederick Engels' famous notion of 'scientific socialism' been treated so literally."
"The extent of his faith in science can best be described as religious devotion. He comments himself: 'The same type o…"
"[S]cience has so changed its nature over... human history that no definition could be made to fit."
"[T]he centre of interest... lies in natural science and technology because... the sciences of society were first embo…"
"Science, in one aspect, is ordered technique; in another, it is rationalized mythology. Because it started as a hardl…"
"I remember excitedly buying a boxed set of 4 books, Science in History by John D. Bernal (Pelican, 1965), when I was …"