#bronowski

P. 67

“Dissent is not itself an end, it is a surface mark of a deeper value. Dissent is the mark of freedom, as originality is the mark of independence of mind. And, as originality and independence are private needs for the existence of science, so dissent and freedom are its public needs. No one can be a scientist, even in private, if he does not have independence of observation, and of thought. But if in addition science is to become effective as a public practice, it must go further, it must protect independence. the safeguards which it must offer are patent: free enquiring, free thought, free speech, tolerance. These values are so familiar to us, yawning our way through political perorations, that they seem self evident. But they are self evident, that is, they are logical needs, only where men are committed to explore the truth: in a scientific society. These freedoms of tolerance have never been notable in a dogmatic society, even when the dogma was christian. They have been granted only when scientific thought flourished once before, in the youth of Greece.”

p. 69