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It is held that sci & technology themselves have become problematic. Sci'ts can either continue to insist on a narrow professional division of work & escape their responsibilities by pretending that sci'fic objectivity has nothing to do with commitment, or change their fundamental assumptions about the nature of their task & replace previously dominant ideas of positive sci with the conception of a critical sci & its methodology. In the latter case, their traditional detachment & aloofness must give way to a very serious concern about all misuses of sci'fic findings for non-humane purposes. Past trends aimed at eliminating from sci all value judgments & reduced soc inquiry to the description & explication of factual situations. The dominant philosophies in the 1930's & 1940's construed all value statements as mere expressions of emotion without any cognitive meaning. But the very concept of value-free sci'fic inquiry is misleading. Certain values & norms are always present in any soc res. Cognitive & non-cognitive values are invariably implicit in the theoretical & methodological presuppositions of soc sci'ts, no matter how neutral they pretend to be. Functionalists assume that society is a stable system with well integrated parts, definite functions, & the goal of conserving that system. Certain ethical values are implicit in the very concepts of objectivity & rationality on which the sci'fic method is based. An objective & rational sci can serve inhumane purposes. But recently a new internat'l solidarity of intellectuals has begun to emerge & a critical consciousness is developing which tends to transcend the limitations of nation, race, class, or religion & assume a humanist position. An active commitment against the abuse of knowledge is seen as part of such a humanist orientation. M. Maxfield.

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