"The scientist is by profession a map-maker; and like
other map-makers he is pledged to allow his own particular values to distort
as little as possible the representation he makes of the state
of affairs. 'Whether I like it or not, or you like it or not,
that's the way it is as far as I can see.' In this sense, he
strives to make scientific knowledge 'value-free.' His maps are
meant to be reliable guides to other people, of whose values
he knows nothing; so 'scientific detachment' and
'depersonalization,' far from being arbitrary eccentricities
of the trade, are all part of his duty as an honest craftsman....
His maps are not merely of observables but of correlations between observables
and
(in de course) of interacting causal factors."
The essay from which this is taken is titled "Christian
Priorities in Science." It is a classic.
Burgy