Sherlock Holmes, the Hunter, and the symbolic power of scientific knowledge

An example of a complex interaction in the system “Science, Technology, Society” can serve as a coupling between science and politics, science and power. The study aims to analyze the problematic of the symbolic power of scientific knowledge and to search for characteristic forms of its actualization. The focus is also on the problem of the relationship between real and symbolic power. The history of science and culture, comparative analysis, analysis of everyday life, and case analysis are used as tools. The scientific and theoretical basis of the work is the ideas of P. Bourdieu, who linked acts of manifestation of symbolic power with the role of statements made by different actors of social reality. The similarity of Bourdieu’s position with M. Foucault’s ideas of the totality of power is emphasized. Within the framework of the case of scientific and expert knowledge, the prevalence of the symbolic power of scientists over their real power, which in fact takes place only episodically, is shown. The power-symbolic role of scientific and technological agents is briefly discussed. Like human actors, they are characterized by a dual power role. Aspects related to the interpretation of the image of the “ivory tower” as a location for prognostic statements of scientists are discussed. Here, two polar scenarios are distinguished: skeptical (dismissive) and visionary (strategic). It is demonstrated that in their implementation, subtle relationships of scientists with their “knowledge” and “non-knowledge” are traced. In this regard, visionary scientists (for example, M. Faraday), possessing an implicit socio-technical imaginativeness (Sh. Jasanoff), are most endowed with symbolic power. Four epistemic processes inherent in the scientific and practical activity are distinguished: pursuit, examination, research, investigation (inquiry). The features of their interaction in the broad context of the existence of science are discussed. It is demonstrated that a well-known hero, Sherlock Holmes, acts as a special actor integrating various types of “investigations” in his ontology. Currently, he is an entire cultural phenomenon. At the same time, this phenomenon can be interpreted as a “cultural statement” conditioned by the influence of scientific knowledge and expressing the corresponding attributes of symbolic power. Using the analysis of classic texts by A. Conan Doyle, it is shown that Sherlock Holmes’s activity is realized in a distributed space – outsideness (M. M. Bakhtin) laboratory. Here, the crime scene turns out to be the detective’s laboratory location (field laboratory), and evidence and small details acquire the role of laboratory samples, laboratory records. In the context of pressing problems of our time (uncertainty, risks, artificial intelligence), the characteristic humanity of the appearance of the great detective Sherlock Holmes is emphasized, which is another of his significant symbolic elements.

symbolic power, scientific knowledge, ivory tower, research, investigation, outsideness laboratory, detective, clue