Toward a Realistic Appraisal of Soviet Science.

The article presents the author's comments on the philosophy of science in the Soviet Union. The author notices that in spite of the clear advances in various sectors of Soviet science and the much publicized recognition and even overstatement of Soviet attainments on the part of some who before had denied the very possibility of high-level Soviet accomplishment, the tendency persists to view the dynamics of Soviet science simplistically in terms of what has happened in genetics and to dismiss the contrary evidence of Soviet progress in the physical sciences as the result of a special dispensation from the Soviet leadership. Thus, the author holds that Soviet science is indeed compatible with totalitarianism, in fact, it has grown into a strong knowledge that the world is worried of.