SCIENCE, EMPIRE, AND IMPERIALISM

The term imperialism has multiple definitions from strictly economic to cultural. This article discusses imperialism as an economic system associated with late capitalism. In this context, it specifically addresses the role of the scientific enterprise in support of imperialism. Imperialism is not colonialism, although in many ways the latter played an essential role in bringing the former into existence. It is also probably more than coincidence that the ascendance of the scientific method (and enterprise) occurred in Europe along with the rise of capitalism. The scientific method is the intellectual program designed to produce more reliable understanding of nature. Its component parts include observation, hypothesis, experiment, and paradigm formation. A reliable understanding of how nature works is a crucial aspect of developing technology. Technology allows people to alter their circumstances. Technology that is based on sound science and therefore works in a reliable and predictable manner has value. For example, the laws of the conservation and transformation of energy made possible the invention and improvement of steam engines. Steam engines, in turn, made it possible to raise large amounts of water out of coal mines. Mining of coal, in turn, made possible the manufacture of more efficient fuel (coke) to smelt iron. The availability of iron made possible the invention of more machines, new types of buildings, and new types of weapons. All these played a role in the capacity of the societies that had this technology to colonize societies that didn’t have them. When Darwin discussed the “extinction of races” in Chapter 6 of The Descent of Man, he placed all the responsibility on the inadequacy of the “savages.” In fact, the inadequacy really was in the motives of the “civilized” nations in their desire to conquer other humans whose technological capacity was less than their own. Eight years after The Descent of Man was published, the British decided to invade Zulu land in what is today South Africa. The Zulu massacred a large English force at the Battle of Isandlwana, demonstrating their capacity to conduct military strategy against the British. However, they eventually lost the war, as spears were no match for repeating rifles.