Clarifying the Science Wars: the Concept of Scientific Authority

Abstract

It is unfortunate that some theorists will judge Felix E. Oppenheim's contributions to political philosophy solely in terms of his metatheoretical stances on such issues as the separation of facts and values, a non-cognitivist view of moral values, and the construction of a value neutral political science based upon the reconstruction of ordinary language. While Oppenheim certainly did articulate and defend these positions in the face of a fundamental shift in the basic orientation of Anglo-American political theory, these metatheoretical arguments do not constitute the core of what he offered to political theory in his writing and teaching. Instead, what is most essential to understanding Oppenheim's own approach to political philosophy, and what remains most relevant to contemporary social and political theory today, is his conception of the nature and central tasks of political theory as a critical and reflective enterprise.