The Scientist as a Freethinker

The description on Card no. 26 and the dialogue on Card no. 27 share an extremely scientific, sociopathic view of obtaining information (pg. 174-7). In Card 26, Linnaeus nearly drowns himself because he wants to be able to read clearly underwater. "I amused myself very frequently with this new hobby, and being most interested in the act of reading, constantly forgot that I was nearly suffocation myself." He shows a complete disregard for even his own life because he gets caught up in the amusement of his experiment. On Card 27, there is the same show of amusement, except at the possible expense of someone else's life--a stranger's life, at that. Linnaeus is callous and insensitive to the stranger's emotions because he (the stranger) is merely a potential test subject. The fact that the stranger has not even yet agreed to donate his body to science should the boat sink does not bother Linnaeus in the slightest. In this card we also see that yet again Linnaeus disregards the possibility of his own death. He is so excited about being able to dissect the body of a man who drowned that he doesn't even stop to contemplate the fact that it could be him who drowns instead of the stranger.

In these two cards, Linnaeus's thoughts are completely focused on science, on the ends rather than the means and expenses of his experiments. He can think of nothing else besides the experiment he wants to conduct and how he will go about conducting it. And yet, in the last two lines of Card 27, Peer says, "Horrible fellows these scientists are!/You damned freethinker!" Peer assumes Linnaeus is a freethinker because he thinks differently than the average, nonscientist man would think. However, Linnaeus only thinks of one thing--the next experiment he will conduct. He's not a freethinker after all, just a differentthinker.