On the Distinctive Features of the Modern Scientific Culture

Abstract

Remarkable strides have been made in science ever since the scientific revolution in the 17th century, and the scientific community continues to prosper today. In its professional activities and social life, this community has created a scientific culture that is increasingly prosperous and is having a significant impact on the development of human culture. The scientific culture has distinctive features that are different from those of the literary culture. For example, it emphasizes the decisive role of objective examination in the course of enquiry to reduce the impact of the subjectivity of researchers on the results. It also stresses the objectivity of knowledge and testing that objectivity through reproducibility. It favours experimental and mathematical approaches while underestimating the roles of imaginal and intuitive thinking, and advocates the values of utilitarianism. This paper concludes that the distinctive features of the scientific culture should be examined in the course of its current development to eliminate the negative impact of utilitarianism.