Toren N
Soc Sci Med. 1983;17(21):1665-72. doi: 10.1016/0277-9536(83)90312-x.
The concept of the ethos of science introduced by Merton in 1942 has given rise to a series of critical discussions, mainly by British sociologists of science. Two phases are identified in the scientific ethos debate beginning in the late 60s and continuing up to the present. The first focus is on the argument that the principles of scientific behavior are not moral norms; the second emphasizes that the rules regulating scientific activity are not normative. Running across these two, is a third argument related to a political radical approach that regards the 'normative structure of science' as an ideology. These lines of criticism are examined from a sociology of knowledge perspective attempting to discern the intellectual and social positions of their proponents. Special attention is given to account for the adoption of the Kuhnian model of scientific development by Merton's critics. The scientific ethos debate is viewed as part of the more general controversy between structural-functional analysis and a phenomenological-interpretative approach.
默顿于1942年提出的科学精神气质概念引发了一系列批判性讨论，主要来自英国科学社会学家。始于60年代末并持续至今的科学精神气质辩论可分为两个阶段。第一个焦点是关于科学行为原则不是道德规范的论点；第二个焦点强调规范科学活动的规则不是规范性的。贯穿这两者的是第三个论点，它与一种政治激进方法相关，该方法将“科学的规范结构”视为一种意识形态。从知识社会学的角度审视这些批评路线，试图辨别其支持者的知识和社会立场。特别关注默顿的批评者采用库恩科学发展模型的原因。科学精神气质辩论被视为结构功能分析与现象学解释方法之间更广泛争议的一部分。
