我們的文化是科學(xué)的，定義什么是自然的，什么是理性的。它的價(jià)值可以從以下幾個(gè)方面看出來(lái):作為事實(shí)而被尋找，作為人工制品而被制造;作為過(guò)程和產(chǎn)品而被設(shè)計(jì);作為武器而被鍛造，作為奇跡而被拍攝下來(lái)。在我們的日常經(jīng)驗(yàn)中，權(quán)力是通過(guò)專業(yè)知識(shí)來(lái)行使的，例如在科學(xué)、技術(shù)和醫(yī)學(xué)方面。作為文化的科學(xué)探索所有這些是如何形成的價(jià)值觀，爭(zhēng)取更廣泛的社會(huì)的影響?？茖W(xué)調(diào)節(jié)我們的文化體驗(yàn)。它通過(guò)遺傳學(xué)、醫(yī)學(xué)和信息技術(shù)，越來(lái)越多地定義了一個(gè)人是什么。它的價(jià)值體現(xiàn)在概念、技術(shù)、研究重點(diǎn)、小工具和廣告中。許多電影、藝術(shù)品和小說(shuō)表達(dá)了人們對(duì)這些發(fā)展的普遍關(guān)注。在一個(gè)進(jìn)步的標(biāo)志來(lái)自科學(xué)、技術(shù)和醫(yī)學(xué)的社會(huì)里，它們要么被頌揚(yáng)，要么被妖魔化。他們的進(jìn)步常常被認(rèn)為是“不自然的”，而他們的批評(píng)者則被貼上了“非理性的”標(biāo)簽。公眾的擔(dān)憂被表面上中立的專家和實(shí)證主義者的辯論所拒絕。然而，科學(xué)文化是開放的，可以像任何其他文化一樣學(xué)習(xí)。文化研究分析專業(yè)知識(shí)在整個(gè)社會(huì)中的作用。許多期刊介紹科學(xué)的歷史、哲學(xué)和社會(huì)研究、科學(xué)的普及以及公眾對(duì)社會(huì)的理解。正如我們的一位讀者所說(shuō)，在這些期刊中，作為文化的科學(xué)是“批判科學(xué)發(fā)展道路的唯一來(lái)源”。不是簡(jiǎn)單的批評(píng)，而是分析基本框架、假設(shè)和職權(quán)范圍。它強(qiáng)調(diào)價(jià)值、利益、意識(shí)形態(tài)和目標(biāo)的根本作用，否則這些價(jià)值、利益、意識(shí)形態(tài)和目標(biāo)就會(huì)以中立和客觀的名義被隱藏起來(lái)。科學(xué)作為文化將科學(xué)置于構(gòu)成文化的價(jià)值觀的更廣泛辯論之中;它不是為某一特定學(xué)科而出版的雜志。作為文化的科學(xué)包括人們的經(jīng)歷——在工作場(chǎng)所、電影院、電腦、醫(yī)院、家庭和學(xué)院。文章可讀性強(qiáng)，吸引人，生動(dòng)活潑，經(jīng)常幽默，而且總是沒(méi)有術(shù)語(yǔ)?？茖W(xué)作為一種文化，其目的在于休閑閱讀，并成為一種樂(lè)趣。

Our culture is a scientific one, defining what is natural and what is rational. Its values can be seen in what are sought out as facts and made as artefacts, what are designed as processes and products, and what are forged as weapons and filmed as wonders. In our daily experience, power is exercised through expertise, e.g. in science, technology and medicine. Science as Culture explores how all these shape the values which contend for influence over the wider society.Science mediates our cultural experience. It increasingly defines what it is to be a person, through genetics, medicine and information technology. Its values get embodied and naturalized in concepts, techniques, research priorities, gadgets and advertising. Many films, artworks and novels express popular concerns about these developments.In a society where icons of progress are drawn from science, technology and medicine, they are either celebrated or demonised. Often their progress is feared as ’unnatural’, while their critics are labelled ’irrational’. Public concerns are rebuffed by ostensibly value-neutral experts and positivist polemics.Yet the culture of science is open to study like any other culture. Cultural studies analyses the role of expertise throughout society. Many journals address the history, philosophy and social studies of science, its popularisation, and the public understanding of society.Amidst these journals, Science as Culture is ’the only source of critique of the way science is going’, as one of our readers put it. Not simply criticism, critique analyses the underlying frameworks, assumptions and terms of reference. It emphasizes the fundamental role of values, interests, ideology and purposes -- which would otherwise remain hidden in the guise of neutrality and objectivity. Science as Culture places science within the wider debate on the values which constitute culture; it is not the journal for a particular academic discipline.Science as Culture encompasses people’s experiences -- at the workplace, the cinema, the computer, the hospital, the home and the academy. The articles are readable, attractive, lively, often humorous, and always jargon-free. Science as Culture aims to be read at leisure, and to be a pleasure.