Politică și știință: despre structura revoluțiilor științifice și libertatea cercetătorilor

The general functioning of the scientific research is based on the (partial) consensus of the scientific community. Although it is neither easy nor quick to be reached, the consensus works as a guarantee that a theory is robust enough to be used on a daily basis, to be put into scientific manuals and taught to the students. Whenever persistent disparities between predictions and findings occur, the theory runs into a deep state of crisis, which is to be solved by adapting the theory. If such adaptation is impossible, the crisis only heads towards a structural solution, generally called a „revolution”. By that, a new born theory replaces the old one by its sole capacity of solving the previously unsolved dilemmas. However, a general condition is to be mentioned, namely the freedom of research, expression and association of those researchers who work in a given scientific community. If it is to come with a scientific solution, no state authority should ideologically embrace one of the disputed standpoints and bureaucratically work to suppress the opposite perspective. Correlatively, no scientific faction should let to be used by the modern bureaucratic state in order for political factions and minorities to impose their preferences, prejudices and taboos by calling them „scientific”.