Title:
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The socio-politic of a relic : carbon dating the Turin Shroud
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The Michelin guide to Italy gives it 3 stars. It is
probably the most widely known Christian relic. It is
kept in a brownish chapel in Turin's Cathedral, next to
the Palazzo Reale. The present Pope, John Paul II, is
said to have a longstanding special interest in it. On
the few occasions when it has been displayed in the last
centuries, millions of visitors have been to view it.
Dominique Lapierre, when relating his experience of
working and living with the poor in Calcutta (cf: La Cite
de la Joie), described its image as the sustaining force
which enabled him to cope with his hardship. It has also
attracted some attention from less christian groups,
like, for example, the "Rolling Stones Magazine", which
had an article on it, titled "The first polaroid in
Palestine". There was even a musical about it, on 52nd
Street, New-York
It is the Shroud of Turin. It has a long history of
scientific testing, a fact about which both the
proponents of its authenticity, and the disclaimers
agree. Agreement between these groups is a rare
occurence, as we shall see later.
"Never in all history has a religious relic
been subjected to such thorough scientific
scrutinity. " (Mueller, 1982: 17)
"... the most intensive and varied scrutinity by
scientific means of any archaeological or art object
in history" (Meacham, 1983: 283)
This thesis deals with the scientific investigation
it generated and more specificaly the carbon dating test
which was performed in 1988 and was seen by most as the
test to end all tests. (For a brief description of the
events surrounding the carbon dating test, see table 1,
at the end of this chapter. ) It deals with it from the
point of view of the Sociology of Scientific Knowledge
(S. S. K. ).
Since the beginning of the 1970's, S. S. K. has
provided a new way of looking at scientific
controversies. In this perspective science is treated not
as a neutral dispenser of 'truths' but as a means of
mediating the apprehension of the world The impetus,
and legitimacy, for such a move came mostly from the
works of Wittgenstein, underlying the historicity of
scientific and logical laws (but see also Bachelard and
Canguillhem) and the works of Kuhn, showing the role of
paradigms. Within the new perspective, science emerged as
a cultural activity, where-the 'cultural' aspects could
no longer be seen as 'defects' but as an integral part of
the activity, as tools for the ordering of what we know
as reality.
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