The Values of Science and Democracy are the Same
To love democracy is to love science.
“There is nothing which can better deserve our patronage than the promotion of science and literature. Knowledge is in every country the surest basis of public happiness.”
- GEORGE WASHINGTON, Address to Congress, January 8, 1790
The values of science and the values of democracy are linked, and in many cases fundamentally indistinguishable.
When Jefferson finished his draft of the Declaration of Independence, he sent it to Franklin for final revisions. “Will Doctor Franklin be so good as to peruse it, and suggest such alterations as his more enlarged view of the subject will dictate?”
Franklin made only a few changes. The most important of his edits were small, but enormously resounding. He crossed out, “We hold these truths to be sacred and undeniable” and changed them to the words that now reverberate through history: “We hold these truths to be self-evident.”
With the usage of “evidence” and linking it to “truth”, Franklin wanted to codify the document and new nation in rationality by using the language of science. And as such a new country was born, espoused in scientific determinism.
Both science and democracy thrive on the free exchange of ideas. Both require rational arguments built around intellectual honesty. And both demand logical thought and rigorous standards of evidence. The founding fathers deeply understood that science is the greatest bulwark against lies, falsehoods, charlatans, and all that could poison a society based on truth and justice. To be pro-science is to be pro-democracy.
Benjamin Franklin was the most famous scientist on earth. And Thomas Jefferson was the most ardent supporter of science that you could find. In fact, many Americans don’t realize that the United States was founded all by intellectuals who were not only scientifically literate, but also strongly loved science. The more we understand this, the better chance we have of preserving what Jefferson, Franklin and their colleagues had in mind.
References:
Isaacson, Walter. “Benjamin Franklin.”
Sagan, Carl. “The Demon-Haunted World.”