Essay on the Role of Science and Democracy in Society

Abstract

In his memorial speech delivered before Marx’s tomb in 1883, Engels gave an apt evaluation of the role of science in society by saying that “science is a revolutionary force that serves to push history forward,” “a revolutionary force in the highest sense.” The term, ‘revolutionary force,’ used here has two meanings. First, science moves ahead of production, guiding the development of production and thus becoming a direct productive force. As early as 1843–44, when Engels wrote his first article examining the capitalist economic system from a socialist perspective entitled ‘An Outline Critique of Political Economy,’ he advanced the thesis that natural science is a productive force. He regarded scientific invention and scientific thinking as key spiritual elements among labor factors, as the main factors of production. By 1857–58, Marx expounded on this viewpoint even more explicitly in ‘An Outline Critique of Political Economy (Draft).’ Human society is built on the basis of production, and furthermore, productive forces are the most active and revolutionary factor in production. Science, as the most active component of productive forces, naturally becomes a revolutionary force that pushes human society forward.KeywordsProductive ForceAcademic FreedomCapitalist SocietyDemocratic SystemOutline CritiqueThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.