The next session of the IAS Seminar will take place this Friday, 27th of February at 1pm. Centro Carlos Santamaria, Room 4. The talk will be hybrid, to participate remotely contact: alberto.monterde@ehu.eus

Our speaker will be Vincenzo Politi (Universidad de Sevilla), who will present: Science, society, and the normativity of science governance

Abstract

Several contemporary philosophers challenge the traditional ‘social contract’ between science and society, arguing in favour of an ‘alignment’ between scientific research and socially desirable aims and values. Although they reach opposite conclusions, however, both the traditional social contract and the new alignment ideal share the same presupposition: namely, that the science/society relationship is indeed a two-player game, with both ‘science’ and ‘society’ threated as homogeneous and monolithic entities. In reality, science is embedded in a wide societal tangle, whose components interact with one another in complex ways.
Among the elements of the societal tangle there are so-called ‘boundary organizations’, that operate in the space between the executive branches of a government and research conducting organizations. Such boundary organizations develop so-called science governance frameworks. Inasmuch as they dictate what scientific research ought to be about and how it ought to be carried (if it wants to receive public funding), science governance is normative. Philosophers of science customarily deal with normative claims about science; therefore, they may also be well equipped to analyse science governance frameworks.
In this talk, I will focus on a specific case, namely a recent shift in the science governance strategy of the European Commission (EC). During the multi-year funding programme ‘Horizon2020’ (2014-2020), EC promoted a governance framework called Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI). In the current funding programme, ‘HorizonEurope’ (2021–2027), references to responsible research have been omitted, with EC now primarily advocating Open Science (OS). As I will explain, RRI and OS rely on conflicting normative views about scientists’ responsibilities and roles.
The philosophical analysis of the governance frameworks developed by boundary organizations may help uncover contradictory presuppositions and ideals shaping science policy, as in the case discussed in this talk. This, in turn, may help us reframe some of the current debates about the relationship between science and society.