Wright Susan
Institute for Research on Women and Gender, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1290, USA.
Community Genet. 2006;9(3):161-9. doi: 10.1159/000092652.
The general purpose of this essay is to explore key features of the disciplinary gulf between the natural and social sciences, and, in particular, differences in fundamental assumptions concerning the nature and purpose of knowledge. The essay contrasts the claims of the natural sciences to objectivity and universality with those of the social sciences, especially the qualitative social sciences, to the historical and cultural contingency of knowledge. It examines the ways in which the use of two 'key words' - 'expertise' and 'responsibility'--serves to maintain the disciplinary gulf by reinforcing assumptions concerning the neutrality and technical nature of scientific knowledge and how those concepts marginalize social and ethical dimensions to create a politically influential hierarchy of knowledge claims.
本文的总体目的是探讨自然科学与社会科学之间学科鸿沟的关键特征，尤其是在关于知识的本质和目的的基本假设方面的差异。本文将自然科学对客观性和普遍性的主张与社会科学，特别是定性社会科学对知识的历史和文化偶然性的主张进行了对比。它考察了两个“关键词”——“专业知识”和“责任”——通过强化关于科学知识的中立性和技术性本质的假设来维持学科鸿沟的方式，以及这些概念如何将社会和伦理维度边缘化，从而创建一个具有政治影响力的知识主张等级制度。
