Abstract

The lively discussions on the theme indicated in the title of this article have too obvious a social and practical import and too profound an existential subtext to be confined exclusively to the pages of academic publications. But perhaps for that very reason such discussions, even among our most serious audiences, are often reduced to the simplistic political alternative: "Are we finally going to finance science normally or not?"—as if a simple affirmative decision by the "authorities" could mark the return of our science to at least a stable condition, if not the best.