This is one of the hardest things for most writers of the history of science to accept. Scientists are people, and like all people, they are very much a product of their upbringing and are always heavily influenced by their peers. One scientist to study as a perfect example of this is Isaac Newton. In addition to his incredible mathematical genius, Newton was also a religious fanatic who beleived in the Aryan religion, a virulent anti-catholic bigot, an incredible egomainiac who held personal grudges for decades, an man who harbored intense professional jealousies and who would become furious at any criticism of his own work, and an extemely clever politician who used his postion in the Royal Society to reward his friends and punish his enemies. Despite all these very human defects in his personality, he was above all a rational scientist who never published anything until it had been proven to his own satisfaction that it was absolutely true (which is why he always won scientific debates).
The idea that any class of people, scientists, clergy, cops, lawyers, politicians, teachers, whatever, will act as anything other than the self-centered humans they all is rediculous.
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This is one of the hardest things for most writers of the history of science to accept. Scientists are people, and like all people, they are very much a product of their upbringing and are always heavily influenced by their peers. One scientist to study as a perfect example of this is Isaac Newton. In addition to his incredible mathematical genius, Newton was also a religious fanatic who beleived in the Aryan religion, a virulent anti-catholic bigot, an incredible egomainiac who held personal grudges for decades, an man who harbored intense professional jealousies and who would become furious at any criticism of his own work, and an extemely clever politician who used his postion in the Royal Society to reward his friends and punish his enemies. Despite all these very human defects in his personality, he was above all a rational scientist who never published anything until it had been proven to his own satisfaction that it was absolutely true (which is why he always won scientific debates). The idea that any class of people, scientists, clergy, cops, lawyers, politicians, teachers, whatever, will act as anything other than the self-centered humans they all is rediculous.