An Inquiry Into the Scientific Freedom in Soviet Russia Under Khrushchev and Stalin

• DOI: 10.1177/106591296101400363
• Date: 01 September 1961
• Published date: 01 September 1961
• Author: Peter A. Toma
• Subject Matter: Articles

50

As

the

level

of

knowledge

increases

new

possibilities

and

potentialities

for

action

are

created.

These

require

that

the

planner

reformulate

his

problem.

The

effect

of

new

knowledge

upon

new

possibilities

for

action

inevitably

leads

to

elements

of

uncertainty

in

any

planning

process.

The

farther

that

a

plan

is

projected

into

the

future

the

less

confident

one

can

be

about

the

validity

of

the

projections.

Man

has

been

able

fundamentally

to

transform

his

conditions

of

life

by

the

systematic

use

of

prediction

and

planning

as

tools

of

learning.

However,

the

more

man

knows,

the

more

variety

he

can

induce

in

his

behavior

and

the

greater

the

degree

of

uncertainty

in

forecasting

the

future

course

of

his

experience.

This

is

the

social

scientists’

dilemma

and

the

planners’

paradox.

As

political

scientists,

we

must

strive

to

meet

the

element

of

uncertainty

in

adaptive

behavior

by

the

use

of

a

variety

of

models

which

allow

for

contingency

and

probability.

Harold

Lasswell

has

urged

the

use

of

&dquo;developmental

con-

structs&dquo;

which

take

account

of

change

over

time

and

indicate

the

consequences

of

change

for

the

fulfillment

of

goals.

Theoretical

models

which

specify

particu-

lar

conditions

can

be

developed

and

tested

which

will

maintain

predictable

patterns

of

behavior

under

the

assumed

conditions.

Traditional

statistical

methods

and

probability

models

afford

other

modes

of

prediction

in

the

study

of

political

behavior.

Still

another

approach

that

permits

substantial

opportunity

for

qualitative

prediction

about

political

behavior

is

the

use

of

the

model

of

the

self-organizing

system.

Certainty

in

planning

is

possible

only

with

perfect

information;

and

the

state

of

perfect

information

can

never

be

realized

by

mortals.

As

a

result,

plans

will

always

be

plagued

by

uncertainty.

If

we

seek

complete

certainty

in

pre-

dictions

about

political

phenomena

or

in

planning

community

affairs,

we

are

destined

to

disappointment

and

disillusionment.

The

mechanisms which

give

rise

to

adaptive

behavior

in

general

and

learning

and

political

decision-making

in

particular

would

appear

to

preclude

that

possibility.

Yet

learning

and

adapt-

ability

depend

upon

the

quest

for

predictability

and

upon

instituting

the

condi-

tions

for

predictability.

This

is

the

task

which

political

theory

seeks

to

clarify

and

political

experience

seeks

to

resolve.

Khrushchev’s

Russia*

AN

INQUIRY

INTO

THE

SCIENTIFIC

FREEDOM

IN

SOVIET

RUSSIA

UNDER

KHRUSHCHEV

AND

STALIN

PETER

A.

TOMA

University

of

Arizona

The

explosion

on

October

4,

1957,

which

flung

the

artificial

satellite

(or

Sputnik,

as

the

Russians

call

it)

into

outer

space,

also

shattered

a

myth - the

belief

that

under

a

despotic

form

of

government

scientific

achievement

is

not

~

Abstract

of

paper

on

&dquo;Khrushchev’s

Foreign

Policy&dquo;

by

David

Cattell,

UCLA,

not

available

for

publication.