According to Husserl, positivism “decapitates” science, because it excludes subjectivity, consciousness, values, etc., or reduces them to something else. Science then can neither reflect on its own meaning and value, nor offer true value to society. In the end then the only “value” left is economic, the only “rationality” is administrative, not epistemological. The original rationality of philosophy as a universal science is far beyond what is allowed by positivism and managerialism. If you exclude all questions of meaning and value as unscientific, because they would not be objective or measurable, then this value-free science (in this specific sense) is also worthless science. Science merely delivers a return on investment based on business plans, education merely delivers skiled workers to industry, and universities are coopted into a political agenda focused on material “prosperity” (Husserl specifically uses the english term here, Hua VI, p.3). Wouldn’t any other kind of science just be a waste of money? Husserl aims to rescue science and philosophy, to enable a much broader cultural shift. Only once we become aware again of the full depth and breadth of what reason and science mean for humanity, we can also fully understand ourselves as rational beings.