Abstract
(1) Truths may be used for personal or group interests, as may false beliefs and illusions. So also truth-seeking may be ideological in social function, just as may the concealment of truth. Thus the scope of ideologies is widened, to reach every hope, action and institution. Whatever serves a special interest has its ideological aspect in addition to any other aspect. Not only astrology but also astronomy; not only kitsch but also Shostakovitch; not only religion but also rationalist atheism; not only dogmas but also free thought. One of the Christian faith’s earliest claims was that the truth shall make the believer free; and the spirit of the 18th century was supported as much by belief in liberation through the truths of science as by belief in liberation through political change. Truth serves as the ideology of liberation; or it may; or it is claimed as such.
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© 1976 D. Reidel Publishing Company, Dordrecht-Holland
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Cohen, R.S. (1976). Constraints on Science. In: Cohen, R.S., Feyerabend, P.K., Wartofsky, M.W. (eds) Essays in Memory of Imre Lakatos. Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science, vol 39. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-1451-9_8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-1451-9_8
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
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