On universalism, Merton wrote that:
“The Haber process cannot be invalidated by a Nuremburg decree nor can an anglophobe repeal the law of gravitation. The chauvinist may expunge the names of alien scientists fromhistorical textbooks but their formulations remain indispensable to science and technology. However echt-Duetch or hundred-percent American the final increment, some aliens are accessories before the fact of every new scientific advance” (270).
Did Merton have Einstein and his career in mind while writing about the scientist and the value of universalism in science? Why or why not? Write an essay that analyzes Merton’s 1942 discussion of universalism and other norms by considering how his view of modern science applies (or not) to the real life example of Albert Einstein.
Criteria for Evaluation:
Participation in tutorial discussion to prepare for this essay.
Level of your understanding of Merton’s article, and his discussion of universalism in particular.
Ability to construct a clear, coherent argument from a specific point of view, to convey this argument to your reader, and to support it through your analysis.
Effective use of evidence from Merton’s text and Einstein’s biography.
Writing style, including good paragraph structure, clarity, and organizational structure.
Good grammar and essay-mechanics (title, spelling, punctuation)
Selection of a thoughtful title for your essay.
Ability to follow presentation instructions for format.
Merton’s work should be cited in the bibliography in this way:
Merton, Robert K. “The Normative Structure of Science [1942]” in The Sociology of Science: Theoretical and Empirical Investigations, 267-278. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1973.
In your footnotes, cite the article this way (the specific reference here is page 270; of course this changes depending on what page you are quoting from):
Robert K. Merton, “The Normative Structure of Science [1942]” in The Sociology of Science: Theoretical and Empirical Investigations (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1973), 270.
A second reference to this page or any other in your footnotes should follow this format:
Merton, “The Normative Structure of Science,” 271.
https://law.unimelb.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/3609203/1c-Merton-The-Normative-Structure-of-Science.pdf
