How to reconcile the multiculturalist and universalist approaches to science education

Abstract

The “multiculturalist” and “universalist” approaches to science education both fail to recognize the strong continuities between modern science and its forerunners in traditional societies. Various fact-finding practices in indigenous cultures exhibit the hallmarks of scientific investigations, such as collectively achieved rationality, a careful distinction between facts and values, a search for shared, well-founded judgments in empirical matters, and strivings for continuous improvement of these judgments. Prominent examples are hunters’ discussions when tracking a prey, systematic agricultural experiments performed by indigenous farmers, and remarkably advanced experiments performed by craftspeople long before the advent of modern science. When the continuities between science and these prescientific practices are taken into account, it becomes obvious that the traditional forms of both multiculturalism and universalism should be replaced by a new approach that dissolves the alleged conflict between adherence to modern science and respect for traditional cultures.