Science, Power and Responsibility Extracts from speech by Prof. Jean-Claude Pecker
Joint-meeting of all UNESCO Commissions on 31 October '97

The ambivalent character of the practical applications of knowledge is partly connected with the fact that within one century a deep chasm of misunderstanding arose between science in the laboratories on the one side, and people and their governments on the other. Often, the practical applications of science are seen much before the science behind them.

Ignorance and lack of understanding (of science) generate distrust. From this distrust, or even fear, comes the inclination towards pseudo-sciences, even rejection of science and a recourse to so-called alternative ways to knowledge. This is the ideology of the "New Age", in whose framework the most pernicious of sects and the most backward ignorance find refuge. This is a disquieting development which reflects our fears, and signals a return to the darkest hours of our past…

In this situation, the responsibility to explain what science is, falls on politicians and scientists. Science is an exploration of the real world, in its entirety, and science alone has a claim to the universal, based as it is on the universal. Politicians and scientists must ensure the popular understanding of science, clarification of its methods and laying bare the exacting and precise nature of its logic. They must also ensure wide spread diffusion of information on the importance - positive or negative - of its applications.

It is by a wide-spread diffusion of its methods as well as of science's benefits that the joint responsibility of scientists and politicians vis-à-vis future generations of humanity will be fulfilled. UNESCO should play a determining role in ensuring this.

B. Commission III (Natural & Social Sciences)

"I would like to emphasise the fundamental importance of education with respect to safeguarding the environment: comparable to Human Rights Education, and Education for Peace.

Education for the respect for environment must obviously imply scientific education. It is true that the environment is endangered by human activity, often linked with scientific progress. It is also true that the solution to these problems lies in the scientific method alone. From an early age itself, children ought to be made aware of the necessity of a responsible and rational attitude in solving problems. They must be alerted against the temptation of irrational methods. It is not simply a teaching of science that we are concerned with, but especially of a teaching that prepares children to become responsible adults vis-à-vis our planet, vis-à-vis humanity. In fact, it is concerned with making humanists out of them…".

C. Commission V (Trans-disciplinary Activities)

"IHEU has noted the insistence on inter-religious dialogue; some countries (specially France) have rightly queried this, pointing out that non-believers were excluded from this exercise. We have also noted that the humanist orientation of the founding fathers of UNESCO was criticised… We have also noted that UNESCO has recognised the year 2000 as a Christian symbol. The fact that it is the Gregorian Calendar adopted by all the countries which is universal ought to have prevented all such attempts to exploit the occasion by a determined religious group. We have also taken note of the insistent repetition of the Project of "the paths of faith". But these roads have too often been paved by hate.

We believe that at the threshold of the 21st century, it is the humanist path that UNESCO ought to take, and we consider this essential to UNESCO's universality. We are not opposed to efforts by certain religions to take us towards a culture of peace through a positive encounter of cultures. We know, however, that religious extremism, violent fanaticism are often characteristics that overlap with the fringes of religion, and we are worried about this. We believe that UNESCO ought not to compromise its prestige as a universal organisation by committing itself to any form of aid to one religious group or another.

We wish for, in the face of these difficult confrontations, a position and a renewed effort towards a "Universal Humanist Culture". The Human Rights Declaration is universal. Natural sciences have a universal language, and describe a unique reality; they lead to objective knowledge open to revision, to shared knowledge about man and his environment. We ought to work for the establishment of a culture of peace whose values are universal, and not affected by particularities. Respect for other men, women, and the young; respect for other cultures, of other's language, refusal to take recourse to violence or force, fundamental equality of rights, and duties and obligations towards the Planet and towards humanity; promotion of the determining right to education… these are the right efforts which will lead us towards a humanist culture of peace."