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CSUDH Habermas UWP

California State University, Dominguez Hills
University of Wisconsin, Parkside
Created: May 4, 2001
Latest update: May 4, 2001
jeannecurran@habermas.org

This essay is based on the online reading: Retiring the Social Contract for Science by David H. Guston, Issues in Science and Technology Online, Summer, 2000. "Updating the way we talk and think about the place of science in society will lead to more effective policy." backup

The essay speaks of the responsibilities that society and the community of scientists owe each other. We must have research on science for out health and our continued maintenance if not growth of our infrastructure. But at the same time public support for that research requires that scientists have the good of society firmly entrenched in their goals, as well as the advnancement of science. David Guston deals with these issues in this article.

I would like you to consider the relationship between theory, policy, and practice, as you read this. And I would like you to consider the role of agency in the twenty-first century. The real issues are that no one of us, not even Einstein, can control completely the uses to which our society puts our work, and no social group or agency can completely control the use to which individuals put our discoveries and developments. Henry and Milovanovic would remind us that we are interdependent. Fellman would remind us that this is no time to "control" nature or anyone else, but a time to act collaborative in the interest of mutuality. Here is an example of scientists trying to discover the infrastructure for such mutuality.

more later . . . jeanne