Last month, I had the honour of coordinating a two-day meeting of an international task force on the culture of science in the Muslim world, with a dozen academics and experts, including the director general of the Islamic World Academy of Sciences. Not everyone understands “culture of science” the same way, but the phrase is generally understood as “the appreciation, adoption, and application of scientific principles at the individual and societal levels.”
Three years ago, the Council of Canadian Academies convened a similar panel of 14 experts, who surveyed “the state of Canada’s science culture” and issued an impressive 250-page report, addressing the following main questions: 1) what are the indicators of a strong science culture in a given community? 2) What impacts does a science culture have in society? 3) What factors and actions support and promote the culture of science in a given society?
In 1946, India’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, declared a commitment to diffuse what he called “science mindedness” throughout the population, that is the extent to which ordinary people would use methods of science to solve life’s problems. This objective (diffusing the culture of science through society) was inscribed into the Indian constitution in 1976.
Earlier, in 1939, Albert Einstein said this when he addressed the World Fair: “If science, like art, is to perform its mission totally and fully, its achievements must enter not only superficially but with their inner meaning, into the consciousness of people.” A culture of science is not synonymous to scientific literacy. The latter refers to the level of scientific knowledge held by the average citizen, from both formal schooling and informal education (by the media and other cultural institutions, e.g. museums). Scientific literacy has been studied for a few decades now, in the West mainly but more recently also in a few Asian countries. However, very few surveys or studies have been conducted in the Arab-Muslim world.
Why is this issue important?
In 1959, the English chemist and novelist Charles Percy Snow (now widely known as CP Snow) gave a public lecture titled The Two Cultures that reverberated through the intellectual circles; it was later published as a small book and became a classic. In that lecture/essay, Snow described “the intellectual life of the whole of western society” as split between the sciences and the humanities, with very little mutual understanding, dialogue, or appreciation, much less integration. He considered that chasm as a major obstacle to solving the world’s problems. The phrase “two cultures” has since entered the cultural lexicon, at least in the west.
One can only speculate what CP Snow would say today, seeing the extent to which our lives are affected by science and its applications (technology), although few people realise that, and fewer understand the importance of science in our world. Indeed, how many people are aware the extent to which our lives are impacted by satellites (the TV channels we watch every day, the GPS systems we use in our cars and on our smartphones, etc.) or how ubiquitous digital technology is. And yet, there is a growing conviction that science as a culture has not made significant inroads in our societies, contrary to technology: we enjoy the fruits but ignore or even criticise the trees.
The aforementioned Canadian expert panel was pleasantly surprised to find that Canada ranked first or second on public science literacy (basic knowledge of science) and on science engagement, i.e. the level and frequency of interest in scientific discoveries and developments, in visits to science museums and technology parks, etc. Canadians also ranked first among 17 mostly western countries in their lack of reservations toward science.
We in the Arab-Muslim world, however, know very little about the views, attitudes, and knowledge of our general public with respect to science and technology. For example, how much do people in our part of the world want to know about science? How often do we (on average) read newspaper reports about scientific issues? How often do we watch documentaries or attend public events that relate to science? One of my favourite questions in the survey that the Canadian experts panel conducted was: “On a scale of 0 to 10, how much do you agree with the following statement: Even if it brings no immediate benefits, scientific research, which adds to knowledge, should be supported by government.” I believe this statement/question neatly probes people’s attitudes toward science, what we are calling a “culture of science”.
Over the next year or so, the international task force I mentioned above will be working hard to try to present a sharp picture of the culture of science in the Muslim world. It will aim to make important and useful recommendations. Indeed, it is essential that we not only recognise the importance of having that culture deeply and widely spread through society, but that we also have a good assessment of the state of science culture in our society. Let us all, parents, educators, communicators, community leaders, and officials do our best to empower our societies with the knowledge and the skills that lead to human progress and socio-economic development.
Nidhal Guessoum is a professor at the American University of Sharjah, UAE. You can follow him on Twitter at: www.twitter.com/@NidhalGuessoum.
