Een licht gevoel van vervreemding

Samenvatting

Reacts to Henk Kleijer's (1999) column Marginaal: Een weemoedig verlangen naar waardevrije wetenschap? (Marginal: A Melancholic Desire for Value-Free Science?), in which the concept of value-free (social) science is addressed on the basis of Kobben and Tromp's De onwelkome boodschap (The Unwelcome Message). It is pointed out that, contrary to Kleijer's assertion that 'De onwelkome boodschap' discussed neither the changing relationships between the (social) researcher and the research sponsor nor the social usefulness of research, these areas are exactly the core of the volume; as a result, Kleijer's argument that the book advocates a "return to value-free science" is deemed nonsensical. The difference between freedom of values, a basic scientific requirement, and social engagement is clarified, and it is suggested that Kleijer confuses the two notions, advocating a scientific approach based on the researcher's bias rather than on neutral testing of hypotheses. S. Paul