But more than merely licensing the view that scientists are autonomous inquirers, this orientation implies that scientists gain their autonomy through membership in a virtual community ("in visibile college", as Francis Bacon put it) with a common set of problems and techniques. From here it is a short step to argue that this virtual community ought to be rendered real and its members' autonomy converted into a guild right requring formal credentials.
其实如果你有点学术敏感性的话,当你看到它所规定的基本理论、基本方法和解决问题基本范型的总和这几个字的时候,然后在对比我谷歌的那段原文给出的“a virtual community with a common set of problems and techniques”。不难理解community应该翻译成什么了。