IN DEFENSE OF THE GREAT ENTERPRISE

The neoliberal system, spreading at a planetary level, is also laying down its rules in the practice of science. Governments show decreasing interest in scientific research. This policy has grave consequences f or the area, to the extent that one wonders if science has a future. T he problem manifests itself; trot only in budget reductions, brit also irt the attitude of many members of the scientific community. Every d ay, less people are interested in the GREAT ENTERPRISE of knowing the world and more only in achieving a career. In this contest, awards and recognitions to stimulate research, implemented recently in several c ountries of Latin America, could have undesirable consequences. This p aper finishes by exhorting the members of the scientific community nor to betray the GREAT ENTERPRISE, which is the ''reason to be'' of scie nce.