History of the frontier of science metaphor
Ceccarelli, Leah
History of the frontier of science metaphor - 2023.
83
This article proposes an analysis of the metaphor of the frontier of science in the United States since the end of the nineteenth century. It shows that the conception of the scientist as frontiersman is the result of several founding texts producing various imaginaries, in particular that of an endless site for discoveries that could be turned to economic gain and thus ensure material progress. In particular, Frederick Jackson Turner’s 1893 thesis on the frontier, an argument that created an exigence for Americans to seek a new metaphoric outlet for the spirit of the frontiersman, this thesis followed by others by the same author and his commentators in the first three decades of the 20th century. As a result of this argument, the frontier became a guiding metaphor for U.S. science policy in 1945 with Vannevar Bush’s government report Science—The Endless Frontier. Thus, by the time of the 1960 Democratic National Convention and John F. Kennedy’s famous speech, the frontier of science metaphor had already taken hold in the public imagination, influencing decision-making about scientific research priorities and an available means of persuasion in the invention of public discourse about science.
History of the frontier of science metaphor - 2023.
83
This article proposes an analysis of the metaphor of the frontier of science in the United States since the end of the nineteenth century. It shows that the conception of the scientist as frontiersman is the result of several founding texts producing various imaginaries, in particular that of an endless site for discoveries that could be turned to economic gain and thus ensure material progress. In particular, Frederick Jackson Turner’s 1893 thesis on the frontier, an argument that created an exigence for Americans to seek a new metaphoric outlet for the spirit of the frontiersman, this thesis followed by others by the same author and his commentators in the first three decades of the 20th century. As a result of this argument, the frontier became a guiding metaphor for U.S. science policy in 1945 with Vannevar Bush’s government report Science—The Endless Frontier. Thus, by the time of the 1960 Democratic National Convention and John F. Kennedy’s famous speech, the frontier of science metaphor had already taken hold in the public imagination, influencing decision-making about scientific research priorities and an available means of persuasion in the invention of public discourse about science.
Réseaux sociaux