Butterfield Considers Historic Role Science Can Perform in Civilization

The contemporary emphasis on science will not be a permanent feature of civilization, Herbert Butterfield, Professor of Modern History at the University of Cambridge, predicted in an interview recently.

Butterfield, who will give the first Horblit Lecture on the History of Science, tomorrow, spoke about science's present role as a vital force in civilization and said, "Don't imagine it can go on forever." He ventured that today's science will carry on to something new and compared its present role with that of scholasticism in the Middle Ages.

Professor Butterfield, discussing both the influence of science and the teaching of science, felt that "degree level students should be trained in the method of science, and also in the method of history."

Absorbing the method of science requires learning some of the substance: "I don't know how you can get the method without experience in the experimental side of science." Butterfield admitted, though, that most basic experiments are merely repetitions of classical demonstrations.

Discussing the role of science in history, Butterfield averred that there were definite repercussions but they were hard to isolate and define. Individual scientific achievements are a causative factor in the development of society: "Something creative can be attributed to Newton, but I'm in reaction against the view that a few great men make the history of science. Each individual is a fresh influence on the world."