There is no doubt that science needs much more attention, especially as our world changes
in processes that build and break what many of us see on the surface as a stable world. Thus,
Chapter 4 of Looking to the Future, “Turning the Spotlight on Science” is appropriately titled to
reflect this need to focus on science and improving scientific education and literacy. “Science is a
creative, collaborative and culturally embedded activity…” declares Hodson, and he examines
this through what he calls “The Constitutive Values of Science”. In this discussion four
perspectives stand out as paramount concepts in our understanding: universalism, commonality,
disinterestedness, and organized skepticism. Hodson also discusses what he calls the “counternorm”
(p. 112) to each perspective. Hodson discusses how a “personal framework of understanding”
or “contextual values” (p. 115) affect individual scientific views and science as a social
activity involving investigations. The author discusses the idea of worldview relative to
“worldview theory” and presents us with Kearney’s (1984) seven major components of a
worldview. Bias and distortion in science are discussed with regard to issues of gender, technolo-