Book Reviews : The Scientific Revolution and World Politics. By CARYL P. HASKINS. (New York and Evanston: Harper and Row, 1964. Pp. ix, 108. $3.50.)

• Published date: 01 December 1964
• Date: 01 December 1964
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/106591296401700439
• Subject Matter: Articles

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assemblies. These struggles, however, are treated as though they took place in a
vacuum. There is very little attempt to relate them to changes in the social and eco-
nomic structure of the colonies or to the wider arena of international affairs. But as
the basic purpose of the author was to write a political history rather than a social
history, he should not be, perhaps, overly criticized for doing what he did not intend
to do. Those interested in early American colonial history will find this book an
excellent account of the political evolution of the legislative bodies in the colonies.
CLARK S. KNOWLTON
Texas Western College
The Scientific Revolution and World Politics. By CARYL P. HASKINS. (New York
and Evanston: Harper and Row, 1964. Pp. ix, 108. $3.50.)
Inevitably, in a nuclear and space age, an early series in the recently established
Elihu Root lectures on foreign relations was devoted to the role of science in foreign
policy. It is also inevitable that a serious treatment of such a topic should raise criti-
cal questions by the score. Caryl P. Haskins, president of the Carnegie Institution
of Washington, is soberly aware of these dilemmas. His knowledge of the relation-
ship between science and government is broad; nor does he shy away from making
proposals where applicable. But the difficulty of this stimulating book is two-fold:
first, it is impossible to reconcile the international interdependence of the culture of
contemporary science with the fierce nationalism of the leaders of the developing
and emerging nations; second, we know all too little about administering science in
the public weal, even in scientifically and technologically advanced nations.
Haskins’ major premise is that contemporary science, ushered into our age by
the Newtonian revolution, is a phenomenon which promotes liberal values in society
by demanding the conditions necessary for freedom of inquiry. He also argues that
the conditions which provide this fredom are necessary...