Science, Action, and Values in Familial Retardation
the interactions of science, value systems, and social action programs, especially in the area of mental retardation. They have made the point that science never directly dictates a social action program. That is, scientific facts and theories about the nature of man and his environment do not in themselves dictate how we solve social problems. It is only when those facts and theories are placed in the perspectiveof a valuesystem that they suggest solutions to our problems. In fact, whatever our society chooses to define as a social problem is in itself determined by our value systems. Sarason & Doris further stated that in this age of high prestige for expertise and science, there is the danger that when we call upon an expert or scientist to solve our social problems, we may not distinguish between his expertise and his value system. In fact, the expert or scientist himself is seldom consciously aware of this distinction or, i f he is, he considers it unimportant or irrelevant to the issue at hand. At any rate, he seldom publicly makes this distinction evident. Instead, his value system is more or less implicitly embedded in his assumptions, his arguments, and his conclusionsthe latter being expressed as his recommendations for action. Therefore, it is incumbent upon a public clamoring for action on its social problems, and listening eagerly to all proposed solutions, to be constantly alert to the distinction between the knowledge of facts and theories that the expert or scientist applies to the problems of society and the value system by which he selects and applies them. Should thevalue system change, the facts and theories selected may change or be reinterpreted to suggest Science, Action, and Values in Familial Retardation JOHN DORIS, Ph.D. Cornell University