Subjectively Objective: Scientific Justification as a Power Strategy

Abstract

The advancements made as a result of the Scientific Revolution have extended far beyond the laboratory and into the social realm. The proliferation of experimental methodologies introduced new means in which to collect, treat, and apply data, and subfields of natural philosophy, particularly the physical sciences such as physics and chemistry, readily adopted these practices. While conclusions rooted in data and reached through statistical analysis were thought to be strictly objective, the personal biases of the researcher were readily apparent in their interpretations of the results. It became widely recognized that scientific results were representative of the absolute truth, but it was the application of such practices onto society that led to the redefining of the term 'race' and the stigmatization of this as a natural and totalizing category. With the application of experimental principles onto society and impossibly-quantifiable features such as intelligence, science has come to be a tool used to justify the implementation of racist policies and to enforce the imposition of social hierarchies of power based on race.