We live in times of increasing public distrust of the main institutions of modern society. Experts, including scientists, are suspected of working to hidden agendas or serving vested interests. The solution is usually seen as more public scrutiny and more control by democratic institutions experts must be subservient to social and political life.
In this book, Harry Collins and Robert Evans take a radically different view. They argue that, rather than democracies needing to be protected from science, democratic societies need to learn how to value science in this new age of uncertainty. By emphasizing that science is a moral enterprise, guided by values that should matter to all, they show how science can support democracy without destroying it and propose a new institution The Owls that can mediate between science and society and improve technological decision-making for the benefit of all.
Table of Content
Preface
Part I: Introduction
Chapter 1: Science as a Moral Choice
Part II: Elective Modernism
Chapter 2: Choosing Science
Chapter 3: The Birds: Elective Modernism, Democracy and Science
Part III: Academic Context
Chapter 4: Elective Modernism in Context
Chapter 5: Institutional Innovations
Part IV: Manifesto
Conclusion: Elective Modernism and Democracy
Notes
References Cited
About the author
Harry Collins is a Fellow of the British Academy, and Distinguished Research Professor in the School of Social Sciences at Cardiff University.
Robert Evans is Professor in Sociology at Cardiff University.
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