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The sci'fic att involves a willingness to be objective. But many falsely assume additionally that such willingness implies being completely value-free. Actually, sci'fic res is value-saturated. At every step one faces the question, "Which is the best way?" Not only is it better to be than not to be sci'fic, sci'ts believe, but one ought to seek what is best relative to all aspects of sci. Exploration is limited to (1) problems, (2) att, & (3) methods. Even prejudice, which is evil when bias prevents or produces false results, may also be good when it helps produce true conclusions. Do policy sci'ts have special obligations re this issue? Modified HA.

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SCIENTIFIC ACTIVITY & ITS POLITICAL CAUSES IS EXAMINED. KNOWLEDGE, APPLICATION, & CHANGE ARE DEFINED AS 3 FUNCTIONS OF SCIENCE. 6 MODELS OF THE SCIENCE-POLICY RELATIONSHIP ARE EXAMINED. THEY BELONG TO IDEOLOGICAL TRENDS, IE LIBERAL, CHRISTIAN, MARXIST, & TO THE PHILOSOPHY OF DEVELOPMENT, & INCLUDE: (1) THE SELF-PROGRESSIVE MODEL, (2) JURGEN HABERMAS' MODEL OF THE IDEOLOGICAL MODEL, (3) THE POSITIVIST MODEL, (4) THE HARMONIC MODEL, (5) THE TECHNOCRATIC MODEL, & (6) THE DECISIONIST MODEL. SCIENCE IS THE ORGANIZATION OF A POLITICAL SOCIETY SINCE SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY ARE CONSIDERED TO BE 2 OF THE CAUSES OF CHANGE DETERMINANT IN NATION BUILDING. SCIENTIFIC CORPORATISM IS ONE OF THE BASES FOR THE INCORPORATION OF INDIVIDUALS & GROUPS INTO THE POLITICAL SYSTEM. POLITICAL MODERNIZATION IS CLOSELY ASSOCIATED WITH THE TYPE OF POLITICAL SYSTEM. THE CONSEQUENCE OF WEAK NATIONAL SCIENCE-POLICIES IS A RESULT OF SITUATIONS UNFAVORABLE TO THE SCOPE OF SCIENCE WHICH FURTHER RESULTS IN THE POORER GROUPS & SOCIETIES BEING DISPLACED TOWARD RICHER ONES. SCIENCE IS "AN INSTRUMENT OF POLITICAL & SOCIAL DOMINATION, A CAUSE OF CULTURAL INTEGRATION, & A VARIABLE OF POLITICAL & ECONOMIC DEMOCRACY." B. MILLER.

The current international status of policy sciences is evaluated, & areas of imminent inquiry in the field are proposed. Key characteristics of the discipline are outlined, including policy application & orientation, emphasis on contextuality, & multidisciplinary approach; challenges facing professionals due to the proliferation of so-called "policy analysts" & to deficiencies in normative policy-making considerations are reviewed. Concerns of potential clients are also identified, including inapplicability, incompleteness, & political manipulation or nonutility of commissioned analyses; the need to strengthen professional credibility through standards & attention to overall societal needs is emphasized. L. Whittemore.

Through most of history, science & technology have experienced only brief fusions; their full synthesis is a product of the European Renaissance. The reasons for this innovation remain a crucial question for historians. The impact of this fusion of science & technology on modern societies is explored. The present is discontinuous with the past both because quantitative increases have brought qualitatively new phases of development into being, & because technological & social problems are now worldwide in scope. The result has been a series of failures of technology & science, with worldwide impact. Recent scientific developments with technological/social consequences of world significance include nuclear weapons, cybernetics, information technology, agricultural technology, biological engineering, birth control, mass communication, medical technology, polymer studies, the social system through which science produces knowledge, & resource exploitation. Technical elites are assuming power based on specialized competence, & their elite position is a source of political, social, & ideological threats to human societies. 1 Photograph, 1 Illustration. W. H. Stoddard.

Policy science can be seen as conceptually distinct from policy analysis. 3 historical approaches to solving practical problems have been developed: (1) science/engineering, (2) trial & error, & (3) decision theory. Policy science can be conceived as the effort to produce knowledge functionally equivalent to science & its engineering applications, without attaining scientifically validated knowledge in connection with policy problems. Policy science is defined in reference to specific human goals; concepts therefore cannot be changed in meaning to attain optimal theoretical significance, but must remain tied to applications, & because it is commonly applied to rather basic goals: freedom from fear of death, & material well-being. In METASCIENTIFIC LATITUDE, Milton Marney (George Washginton U, Washington DC) claims Reynold's conservatism does not allow for the element of change; science, being a human institution, is marked by constant change. It is impossible to extract a methodology from science, since it is the sum of what is known at any one time. Reynold's paper is an extremely valuable contribution in 2 critical areas: (1) it identifies explicit limitations of objective scientific method in the context of theory construction for nonlinear systems, & (2) it realizes that reconstruction is necessary in theoretical bases & institutional structures of practical social decision-making, & particularly in the philosophy of science. In SCIENCE, OPTIMALITY AND VINDICATION, James F. Reynolds rejoins Marney's criticism based mostly on the latter's concern with the "vindication of values." When an optimal value orientation emerges through sound scientific knowledge, it is 'optimal' & in need of no vindication. If Marney's version of policy science founds values that are optimal & then achieved through vindication, the distinction between science & vindication holds & his criticism is not challenging to the key premise of Reynold's paper. Modified HA.

It is argued that there is a radical distinction between the natural sci's, the soc sci's & the humanities grounded in the typal diversity of the phenomena with which they are concerned. Natural sci's are concerned with a realm in which value-considerations are practically non-existent. Humanities study a realm which is the specific creation of men & in which value-bearing & value-embodying aspects are the essence of the matter. Soc sci's deal with a midway realm of human reality arising out of the interaction of men in which the causal & the valuational intertwine in an inextricable manner. This midway positioning of the soc sci's accounts for the continuous temptation of the soc sci'st to regard his subject-matter in completely naturalistic terms, on the one hand, or as analogous to a piece of human art-creation, on the other. The diverse & even contradictory methodologies pleaded for in the soc sci's can be understood in the perspective & context of such a situation. AA.

The status of social science vis-a-vis the scientific community as a whole is examined. Five characteristics are necessary for a field to be empirically classified as a science: (1) the presence & systematic testing of hypotheses; (2) precise measurement; (3) careful & publically testable observation; (4) sophisticated conceptual structures; & (5) shared paradigms. The social sciences are argued to embrace these traits, & thus qualify as true science from this point of view. The impact of social investigation's cognitive activity on the social order is assessed; no radically different insights from ordinary thought are apparent. The lack of progression in paradigms seems to undermine social science's overall status as science. R. McCarthy.