Science and DemocracyAuthor(s): John DeweySource: The Scientific Monthly, Vol. 52, No. 1 (Jan., 1941), p. 55Published by: American Association for the Advancement of ScienceStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/17214 .

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SYNTHETIC RUBBER 55

the continuatio-n of an adequate supply is a vital part of any program of national defense. Even by the end of 1940 the total production of all the materials dis- cussed here will probably not exceed 5 per cent. of the rubber requirements of the country. To satisfy this demand there will be required an industry with a capacity at least twenty times that of the present production of synthetic rub- ber, almost ten ti:mes that of the present dye industry and three to five times that of the present synthetic resin industry. Such production is not built up over- night, even under emergency conditions.

If shipments of rubber should be stopped, present supplies could be ex- tended to meet requirements for about a year by expanding the production and use of reclaim and synthetics already in production. Plant construction and operation would be greatly aided by the knowledge already available from the

production of various types of synthetic rubber. Even so, it would probably take two or three years to raise production to an adequate level. Such expansion is not normally practical and will require government support as a defense mea- sure.

The National Defense Advisory Com- mittee, in considering what might be done to replace rubber should its impor- tation be prevented, is studying the problem of quantity production of syn- thetic rubber in this country. It seems advisable that definite plans should be made promptly so that the manufacture of synthetic rubber in substantial quan- tities can be started as soon as possible. Experience in its manufacture and utili- zation for the more essential rubber products will give assurance of the abil- ity of the nation to replace natural rub- ber without delay should the necessity arise.

SCIENCE AND DEMOCRACY ONE of the only two articles that remain in my

creed of life is that the future of our civilization depends upon the widening spread and deepening hold of the scientific habit of mind; and that the problem of problems in our education is there- fore to discover how to mature and make ef- fective this scientific habit. Mankind so far has been ruled by things and by words, not by thought, for till the last few moments of history, humanity has not been in possession of the condi- tions of secure and effective thinking. Without ignoring in the least the consolation that has come to men from their literary education, I would even go so far as to say that only the gradual replacing of a literary by a scientific education can assure to man the progressive amelioration of his lot.

Scientific method is not just a method which it has been found profitable to pursue in this or that abstruse subject for purely technical rea-

sons. It represents the only method of think- ing that has proved fruitful in any subject- that is what we mean when we call it scientific. It is not a peculiar development of thinking for highly specialized ends; it is thinking so far as thought has become conscious of its proper ends and of the equipment indispensable for suc- cess in their pursuit.

If ever we are to be governed by intelligence, not by things and by words, science must have something to say about what we do, and not merely about how we may do it most easily and economically. And if this consummation is achieved, the transformation must occur through education, by bringing home to man's habitual inclination and attitude the significance of genu- ine knowledge and the full import of the condi- tions requisite for its attainment.-John Dewey, in " The Scientific Method and Study of Proc- esses.y"

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