Bourgeois pseudoscience
Bourgeois pseudoscience (Russian: буржуазная лженаука, burzhuaznaya pzhenauka) was a term of condemnation in the Soviet Union for certain scientific disciplines that were deemed unacceptable from an ideological point of view[1][2] due to their incompatibility with Marxism–Leninism. At various times pronounced "bourgeois pseudosciences" were: Mendelian genetics,[notes 1] cybernetics,[3] quantum physics,[4] theory of relativity,[citation needed] sociology[5] and particular directions in comparative linguistics (the now-debunked Japhetic theory of Nikolay Yakovlevich Marr, which was also refuted by Stalin in "Marxism and Problems of Linguistics").
The term was not used by Stalin himself,[citation needed] who rejected the notion that all sciences must have a class nature. Stalin removed all mention of “bourgeois biology” from Trofim Lysenko’s report, The State of Biology in the Soviet Union, and in the margin next to the statement that “any science is based on class” Stalin wrote, “Ha-ha-ha!! And what about mathematics? Or Darwinism?”[6] The term or its synonyms was used in the 1951 and 1954 editions of the Short Philosophical Dictionary: "Cybernetic is a reactionary pseudoscience originated in the United States... A form of modern mechanicism.",[3] "Eugenics is a bourgeois pseudoscience",[7] "Weismannism-Morganism - bourgeois pseudoscience, designed to justify capitalism".[8] Today, most scholars agree in characterizing eugenics as rooted in pseudoscience,[9][10] albeit without the "bourgeois" qualifier.
Psychology was declared a "bourgeois pseudoscience" in the People's Republic of China during the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976).[11] Furthermore, sociology was banned there in 1952,[12] and it remained banned until the late 1970s.[13][14]
See also
[edit | edit source]- Repression of science in the Soviet Union
- Cybernetics in the Soviet Union
- Censorship in the Soviet Union
- Soviet historiography
- Politicization of science
Notes
[edit | edit source]- ^ See Lysenkoism and its impact in the other countries of the Soviet Bloc
References
[edit | edit source]- ^ Loren R. Graham (2004) Science in Russia and the Soviet Union. A Short History. Series: Cambridge Studies in the History of Science. Cambridge University Press. Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value)..[page needed]
- ^ Mark Walker (2002) Science and Ideology. A Comparative History. Series: Routledge Studies in the History of Science, Technology and Medicine. Routledge. Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value)..[page needed]
- ^ a b "Кампания против кибернетики в СССР"
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