VIII. A Critique of Marxist Science
A. Criticisms by Marvin Harris in The Rise of Anthropological Theory
1. The unity of theory and practice is sometimes unacceptable.
a. Although there is a superficial resemblance between the scientific techniques of confirming predictions through experience and “changing the world,” there are differences also.
b. “No one insists that meteorologists must justify their respective models of ice ages by producing new advance of the continental glaciers. Nor do we expect that alternative explanations of meteorological phenomena require made-to-do order hurricanes, tornadoes and thunderstorms.”
c. “In the historical sciences, the doctrine of unity between theory and practice is rendered superfluous by the possibility of subjecting one’s predictions to the test not of the future, but of past events”, i.e. the test of future practice may be unnecessary.
2. The insistence upon changing the world politicizes science so ass to turn science into dogma.
a. Marx’ insistence upon conscientious scholarship is insufficient protection, in practice.
b. “Thus the Marxist sociologists would seem to enjoy a mandate to change data in order to make it more useful in changing the world, subject only to the usual limitations imposed upon wartime propaganda. On the one hand, repeated falsification diminishes credibility and runs the risk of self-defeat; o the other, acceptance of one’s own propaganda may eventually destroy the objective basis of action.”
3. The insistence upon a single factor, viz, the material modes of production, to explain all social phenomena is a mistake.
