Critique of The Notion of Socialism As A Science
The philosophy of science basis of the claim of Marxism, and in the Soviet Union, Marxism-Leninism, to be a science is based its conceptions of dialectical materialism and historical materialism. Although the influence of Marxist thought especially in the social sciences is great, there are no communities of theoretical or applied scientists or technicians based on Marxism. This contrasts with those for disciplines which do have established and credible claims to being theoretical sciences or engineering disciplines, the planning functions of the current communist states notwithstanding.
The most one could say is that socialism, e.g. Marxism, has, at least historically, been a current which finds expression in various scientific disciplines such as mathematical economics, sociology, etc. Socialism and Marxism are thus better described as theoretical frameworks for understanding and analyzing the social, economic and political world.
Read more about this topic: Scientific Socialism
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