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Marxist Perspective Lewontin Summary

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Lewontin's Marxist perspective differs from rationalism and positivism in that it offers a more radical critique of the epistemological nature of science. Lewontin begins the chapter by clearly stating a statement of empiricism. His position seems to be extreme in the subject as he describes experience as the one and only source of knowledge. It appears that, throughout the text, Lewontin does not provide enough evidence and discontinues this argument. Furthermore, Lewontin's empiricist point of view describes science as being strongly influenced by personal values. He believes that scientists attempt, in vain, to get rid of biases and to separate objectivity and viewpoint. Instead, he deduces that scientists need to acknowledge of the potential effects of their personal values on the product of their work and to use that in order to share and build on other beliefs or theories. …show more content…

Lewontin's assertions are supported by different political points of view as he distinguishes between liberals and conservatives. One one hand, he criticizes conservatives for relying on faith and undermining the true value of science although having conceived science as value-laden. On the other hand, he blames the liberals' naïveté for being too accepting of objectivity as the main foundation of truth in scientific works. In his last proposition, Lewontin involves political ideologies and criticizes the scientific community for acting as a single entity and demonstrating authoritarian characteristics which would exclude scientific knowledge to be acquired by "the people" (99). He accuses scientists for their constant vain attempts to search for one unique and universal

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