Hilligardt, Hannah and Wilholt, Torsten (2025) Science and Democracy. [Preprint]
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Text (Book chapter)
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Abstract
The chapter explores the relationship between science and democracy and argues for the importance of engaging with a multiplicity of theories of democracy. It begins by discussing, in section two, traditional claims about the purported kinship between science and democracy, from simplistic conditional relationships to Dewey's more nuanced understanding grounded in a shared epistemic attitude. Section three moves on to contemporary accounts of science’s role in democracies which are predominantly based on liberal political theories. From this perspective, the importance of science’s independence from political interference, combined with a responsibility to respect public values or principles of justice, can be supported with good reason, as explored in section four. Finally, section five engages with critiques of liberal democratic theory, particularly from non-ideal and agonistic perspectives, to reflect on the limitations of two kinds of idealized assumptions in discussions of the science-democracy relation: the focus on autonomous individuals and the aspiration of establishing a non-political common ground or consensus through science. This shows that the question of the role of science in democratic politics cannot be discussed separately from the question how to understand democracy.
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| Item Type: | Preprint | |||||||||
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| Additional Information: | Forthcoming in Elliott, K., Richards, T. (Eds.), The Routledge Handbook of Values and Science | |||||||||
| Keywords: | science and democracy; values in science | |||||||||
| Subjects: | General Issues > Science and Society General Issues > Values In Science |
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| Depositing User: | Dr. des. Hannah Hilligardt | |||||||||
| Date Deposited: | 21 Oct 2025 12:36 | |||||||||
| Last Modified: | 21 Oct 2025 12:36 | |||||||||
| Item ID: | 26992 | |||||||||
| Subjects: | General Issues > Science and Society General Issues > Values In Science |
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| Date: | 2025 | |||||||||
| URI: | https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/26992 |
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