SCIENCE and scientific facts possess a degree of authority in our society that is based on the alleged objectivity of the facts that we can come to know through the scientific process. If we correctly apply the “scientific method,” we are meant to discover things that are true, regardless of whether we believe them to be true. This idea of science is usually invoked in contrast to religion or spirituality. The biologist turned atheist campaigner Richard Dawkins claims that “Science is the disinterested search for objective truth about the material world.”  

Is it possible for scientists to achieve this complete disinterest in their work? Sometimes it might seem possible, a scientist studying the function of a very specific protein might not be invested in the details of their findings beyond thinking that discovering the function is an important thing to do. But even in this case it might be hard to be completely disinterested, perhaps subconsciously you hope that your findings are novel or significant in a way that will help your career.

Only very rarely does science take place in a context that is so neatly separated from human desires and concerns. As we saw during the Covid-19 pandemic, discovering facts about the SARS-CoV-2 virus led to considerable restrictions on the everyday life of millions of people. Research into sea temperature increases reveals that they will destabilise the climate with significant consequences for everyone on the planet. The search for these facts can hardly be described as disinterested, the researchers are likely motivated by a desire to improve the world we live in.