Merton thesis

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The Merton thesis was supported by the US in 1938 sociologist Robert King Merton in his book Science, Technology and Society in 17 th -Century England developed. Similar to Max Weber's well-known thesis on the connection between Protestant ethics and the emergence of the capitalist economic order, Merton assumed that there was a positive correlation between Protestant Puritanism and Pietism on the one hand and the experimental natural science of the early modern period on the other. Merton developed his thesis further in later publications. It employs scientists to the present day.

The thesis

The Merton thesis consists of two separate parts. First, the thesis contains a theory that changes in science are caused by the accumulation of observations and improved experimental techniques and methodological approaches. Second, the thesis argues that the popularity of science in 17th-century England and the affiliation of members of the Royal Society to particular churches - most English scientists of the period were Puritans or other Protestants - are due to a correlation between Protestant beliefs and behavior and the principles of science can be explained. In Merton's view, English Puritanism and German Pietism were responsible for the scientific revolution of the 17th and 18th centuries. Merton explained this connection as a significant synergy between the ascetic values ​​of Protestantism and those of modern science. Protestantism encouraged scientific research by assigning it the task of discovering God's work in the world. In doing so, he provided a religious justification for scientific research.

Criticism and confirmation

The first part of the thesis has been criticized for not taking sufficient account of the role that mathematics and materialist philosophy played in the scientific revolution. With regard to the second part of Merton's thesis, the difficulty that arises in defining which Protestant is the “correct type” without having to introduce arbitrary distinctions was criticized. It was also criticized that the thesis could not explain why non-Protestants pursued natural science (e.g. Nicolaus Copernicus , Leonardo da Vinci , René Descartes or Galileo Galilei ), and vice versa, why there are Protestants of the “right type” who have no interest in science. Merton replied to this criticism that the Puritan ethos was not necessary for the development of science, but that it made it easier. Merton also pointed out that once science was recognized as a legitimate institution, it no longer needed religion and eventually became an opposing force that led to the weakening of religious awareness. Nevertheless, in the early days of the scientific revolution, religion was one of the main reasons for its emergence.

Although the Merton thesis does not explain all of the causes of this revolution, it does shed light on how the group of scientists in England was structured and suggests possible reasons why this country was one of the main driving forces behind the scientific revolution.

The fact that religious convictions and denominationally motivated behavioral patterns exerted a strong influence on large areas of the state and society even after the end of the 18th century was shown in 1958 by a broad empirical study conducted by the American sociologist Gerhard Lenski and his team in the greater Detroit area (US state Michigan). In addition to other findings, it revealed significant differences between Catholics on the one hand and Protestants and Jews on the other with regard to attitudes towards economic life and science. Lenski found the core points of Max Weber's theses confirmed, except that he could not prove any ascetic traits in the economic behavior of Protestants. Before Weber, John Wesley , one of the founders of the Methodist Church, observed as early as 1790 that “diligence and frugality”, two norms of behavior that Methodists shared with other Protestant denominations, unintentionally brought prosperity to these people would have. The study has shown that Protestants and the small minority of Jews have a high degree of "intellectual autonomy", which is a favorable prerequisite for a scientific profession. On the other hand, Catholics have an intellectual orientation that values ​​“obedience” and approval of the “revealed truths” of church teaching higher than intellectual autonomy, which is detrimental for a career in the natural sciences. Studies by Catholic sociologists have come to the same research results. Lensky attributed these differences to the Reformation and the Catholic response to it. The Reformation promoted the growth of intellectual autonomy among Protestants, especially among Anabaptists , Puritans, Pietists, Methodists and English Presbyterians . It is true that there was also intellectual autonomy in medieval Catholicism , for example with men like Erasmus of Rotterdam . After the Reformation, however, the Catholic church leaders increasingly equated this quality with Protestantism and heresy . Instead, the Catholic Church would have demanded obedience to church doctrine from its members. These differences between Protestants and Catholics have remained effective to the present day. Therefore none of the Catholic states such as France , Italy , Argentina , Brazil or Chile , which are all industrialized to a fairly high degree, can be counted among the leading countries in the technological and scientific field. Recently [1963] Brazilian Catholic sociologists, when comparing their country with the United States, cited the religious heritage of Brazil as the main reason for the different levels of development of the two countries.

This view is underpinned by the number of Nobel Prize winners in the natural sciences and economics. By October 10, 2010, the United States had produced 305 such winners, while all Latin American countries combined had only six (Argentina three, Brazil, Mexico and Venezuela one each). Since around 1620, by far the greatest number of groundbreaking, world-changing scientific discoveries and technological inventions have been made in the Protestant countries of Great Britain, Germany and the United States, from Kepler's and Newtonian laws , the theory of evolution and relativity to modern astronomy ( Edwin P. . Hubble ) and Genetics ( Francis Crick , James D. Watson ); from the steam engine , the electric generator and motor , the automobile to computers and the Internet .

literature

  • George Becker: The Merton Thesis: Oetinger and German Pietism, a significant negative case . In: Sociological Forum , Volume 7, Number 4, December 1992.
  • I. Bernard Cohen: Puritanism and the Rise of Modern Science: the Merton Thesis . Rutgers University Press, 1990, ISBN 0-8135-1530-0 .
  • H. Floris Cohen: The Scientific Revolution: A Historiographical Inquiry . University of Chicago Press, 1994, ISBN 0-226-11280-2 .
  • Gary B. Ferngren: Science and Religion: A Historiographical Introduction . Johns Hopkins University Press, 2002, ISBN 0-8018-7038-0 .
  • Andrew Gregory (1998): Handouts for course 'The Scientific Revolution' at The Scientific Revolution . MS Word .
  • Russell Heddendorf: Religion, Science, and the Problem of Modernity . In: JASA. 38, December 1986, pp. 226-231.
  • Gerhard Lenski: The Religious Factor: A Sociological Study of Religion's Impact on Politics, Economics, and Family Life . Revised Edition. Anchor Books Edition, Garden City, NY, 1963.
  • Roy Porter, Mikulas Teich: The Scientific Revolution in National Context . Cambridge University Press, 1992, ISBN 0-521-39699-9 .
  • Piotr Sztomka: Robert K. Merton . In: George Ritzer (Ed.): Blackwell Companion to Major Contemporary Social Theorists . Blackwell Publishing, 2003, ISBN 1-4051-0595-X .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Piotr Sztomka: Robert Merton. In: George Ritzer (Ed.): Blackwell Companion to Major Contemporary Social Theorists . Blackwell Publishing, 2003, ISBN 1-4051-0595-X , p. 13.
  2. ^ I. Bernard Cohen: Puritanism and the Rise of Modern Science: The Merton Thesis . Rutgers University Press, 1990, ISBN 0-8135-1530-0 .
  3. ^ Andrew Gregory (1998): Handouts for course "The Scientific Revolution" at The Scientific Revolution . MS Word. ( Memento of the original from May 13, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.ucl.ac.uk
  4. ↑ George Becker: The Merton Thesis: Oetinger and German Pietism, a significant negative case. In: Sociological Forum , Volume 7, Number 4, December 1992.
  5. ↑ Gary B. Ferngren: Science and Religion: A Historical Introduction . Johns Hopkins University Press, 2002, ISBN 0-8018-7038-0 .
  6. ^ Roy Porter, Mikulas Teich: The Scientific Revolution in National Context . Cambridge University Press, 1992, ISBN 0-521-39699-9 , p. 179.
  7. ↑ Russell Heddendorf: Religion, Science and the Problem of Modernity. In: Journal of the American Scientific Affiliation (JASA), 38, December 1987, pp. 226-231
  8. ^ H. Floris Cohen: The Scientific Revolution: A Historical Inquiry . University of Chicago Press, 1994, ISBN 0-226-11280-2 , pp. 320-321.
  9. ^ Gerhard Lenski: The Religious Factor: A Sociological Study of Religion's Impact on Politics, Economics, and Family Life . Revised Edition, Anchor Books Edition, Garden City, NJ, 1963, pp. 350–351, 356–358.
  10. ↑ Thomas F. O'Dea: American Catholic Dilemma: An Inquiry into the Intellectual Life . Sheed & Ward, New York 1958.
  11. ↑ Frank L. Christ, Gerard Sherry (Ed.): American Catholicism and the Intellectual Ideal . Appleton-Century-Croft, New York 1961.
  12. ^ Gerhard Lenski: The Religious Factor , pp. 283-284.
  13. ↑ See the execution of Giordano Bruno (1600) and the forced revocation of Galileo (1633).
  14. ^ Gerhard Lenski: The Religious Factor , pp. 347-349.
  15. ↑ Some more numbers (Nobel Prize winners): Great Britain: 94, Germany: 87, France: 35, Italy: 13, Spain: 2, Portugal: 1. BBC News of October 10, 2010.
  16. ↑ "The cultural heritage of Germany since the time of Luther influenced mainly Protestant." Gerhard Lenski ( "The German cultural heritage since Luther's day has been predominently Protestant."): The Religious Factor , page 349.
  17. ↑ Further examples: Discoveries: electromagnetism , X-rays , nuclear fission , quantum physics . Inventions: Steamship , railroad , a myriad of chemical and pharmaceutical products , refrigeration machines , telephones , radio telegraphy , incandescent lamps , gasoline and diesel engines , aircraft , space travel (in some cases), radar , television , laser , electron microscope , magnetic resonance tomograph , semiconductor technology , global positioning system .