What does a “National Science” Mean? Science Policy, Politics and Philosophy in Latin America

Abstract

The first generation of science policies in Latin America were inspired by the linear model of innovation based on Vannevar Bush’ Science: the endless frontier and UNESCO postwar stance on freedom of research. Informed by these ideas, during the late 1940s and the 1950s, research councils focused on basic research were created throughout the region. During this first phase, prominent scientists, such as Argentine Nobel Laureate in Physiology Bernardo Houssay, were explicit advocates of these policies. The configuration of science studies during the 1960s were a reaction to these policies. Thinkers with different backgrounds criticized especially the emphasis on basic research and the lack of attention to Latin American knowledge needs. The reflections of these authors and their intervention in international organizations, usually referred as part of a movement of Latin American Thought in Science, Technology, and Development (PLACTED), preceded other meta-scientific reflections in sociology or anthropology of science. The chapter focuses especially on the works of three authors of the movement: Jorge Sabato, Amílcar Herrera, and Oscar Varsavsky. They had few points of agreement and many ideological differences, related to their differential involvement with Marxism and a “revolutionary way” of political action. The chapter concludes with a discussion on the link between science and development in the context of the global “radicalization” agenda of the late 1960s and early 1970s.