The Limitations of Cross-cultural Transfer of Science and the Responsibility of the Scientist

Abstract

"Science" is part of Western cultural history and expansion. The "Western" scientific approach based on the separation of subject and object over centuries has led to manifold constructive achievements to ease life as well as to systematic exploitation and destruction of the earth and its inhabitants. Scientists are change agents and many seriously interfere with traditional values, for better of for worse, at a speed which people cannot cope with. Today, more than before, scientists are asked to identify problems of science-based cross-cultural interaction which may be more destructive than helpful. This is as true for the fields of medical science and its applications, though less conspicious at the first glance, as for other sciences. Although the natural science paradigm of medicine is universally relevant, the practical applications of it in terms of medical care are not at all. Many sociocultural, economic, educational and political barriers exist, as well as differences in explanatory models of health, causes of disease and healing in different cultures, including the Western one. A dialogue between cultures, between sciences and humanities, is urgently meeded to make science, and scientific medicine for that matter, universally relevant to mankind.