The Scientia Case: Scientific Censorship and Ideological Struggles, 1973-1975

In the 1970s, in Italy, the discussion around the neutrality of science reached its peak, involving scientists, intellectuals of different backgrounds, historians and philosophers. Several occasions gave rise to polemics and ideological contrasts, which were mostly consumed between Marxists. The Scientia case, which arose with the editorial on the theme “Science, Culture and Society” in 1973, originated a small ‘war,’ which was followed by an episode of political-ideological censorship that extended until 1975. The episode, which also involved the journal Sapere and several historians and scientists, turned into a symbolic battle for freedom of speech: The discussion concerned not only the protracted reflection on the neutrality of science, but also the contrast between methodological, epistemological and historiographical approaches. The opposition between dialectical materialism and historical materialism consequently took on the features of a generational clash, and a battle between veteran-communist dogmatism and the innovative instances of authors close to extra-parliamentary movements: this was the origin of the ‘clash’ between Geymonat’s Milanese school and the post-Sixties generation of historians of science. Thanks to unpublished documents, it has been possible to reconstruct an unexplored but crucial episode of the “Italian science wars,” fundamental to understandingthe dynamics that inflamed these wars from then on.