Eugenics Laboratory Lectures number 12: Pearson, Karl. 1919. The Function of Science in the Modern State, second edition (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press). 97 pp.
First published as Karl Pearson. 1902. ‘The Function of Science in the Modern State’, Encyclopaedia Britannica, volume 32 (PRI-STO), pp. vii-xxxvii. GLNE reprint is second edition 1919.
Summary
This lecture serves as a comprehensive plan for reorganizing the role of science in society to ensure national strength and survival. Pearson criticizes the “multiplication of little centres” of education (local colleges and polytechnics) for leading to waste and inefficiency.
He advocates for specialized research and education, insisting that advanced students must seek out and follow master-minds—a process often requiring multilingual skills and the extension of the ”Wanderjahre” custom (traveling for research). He proposes that commercial universities should include the ”third free year” for senior staff to travel and conduct research.
Pearson also addresses the infrastructure of science, calling for the permanent endowment of scientific journals and greater specialization in publication to avoid overlap. He suggests the co-ordination of existing learned societies, arguing that the Royal Society must differentiate into specialized sections to survive and maintain influence in the highly specialized science of the future. He also points out the abysmal state of medical statistics, noting that conclusions are repeatedly drawn from short series of cases, emphasizing the need for robust statistical training in medicine.
Changes Across Editions:
This work was originally published in 1902 and reissued as a Second Edition later (Price Two Shillings net). The Preface to the Second Edition reveals the explicit catalyst for the reprinting: the original paper had ”failed to attract any notice” despite the early warnings it contained, particularly concerning lessons relevant to the South African War. The reissuance was made subsequent to the conclusion of World War I (implied by the reference to the “last four years of struggle” or “Sixteen years ago”). Pearson’s primary motivation for the 1918/1927 edition was the belief that the struggle for national survival had finally taught the essential lesson that ”science is of fundamental importance”. The updated edition aimed to re-circulate the detailed plan for reorganizing academic study, specialized research, and scientific infrastructure so that the nation could possess the intellectual power necessary for the future.
Eugenics Laboratory Lectures number 12
Alternative: