•  20
    This paper examines the central role of ethnology, the science of race, in the administration of colonial India. This occurred on two levels. First, from the late eighteenth century onwards, proto-scientists and administrators in India engaged with metropolitan theorists through the provision of data on native society and habits. Second, these same agents were continually and reciprocally influenced in the collection and use of such data by the political doctrines and scientific theories that de…Read more
  •  13
    Many commentators today lament the politicization of bioethics, but some suggest distinguishing among different kinds of politicization. This essay pursues that idea with reference to three traditions of political thought: liberalism, communitarianism, and republicanism. After briefly discussing the concept of politicization itself, the essay examines how each of these political traditions manifests itself in recent bioethics scholarship, focusing on the implications of each tradition for the de…Read more
  •  4
    The Civic Shaping of Technology: California’s Electric Vehicle Program
    Science, Technology, and Human Values 26 (1): 56-81. 2001.
    Constructivist technology studies have often cast government as one “social group” among many, reflecting a liberal pluralist view of politics. This article argues, in contrast, that due to the conceptions of citizenship conveyed by policy designs, governments have a special role to play in the shaping of new technologies. This argument is illustrated in the case of the controversial 1996 decision by the California Air Resources Board to significantly revise its electric vehicle program. The art…Read more
  •  69
    James Baldwin and the politics of white identity
    Contemporary Political Theory 20 (1): 1-22. 2021.
    Efforts to develop a coherent role for white people in racial justice initiatives in the USA are often stymied by the defensiveness, paternalism, and guilt of many white liberals. Such efforts are also undermined by critiques of whiteness that conflate white identity and white supremacy. I address this dilemma by developing an account of antiracist white identity politics, conceived of here as taking responsibility for the effects of being socially defined as white. I locate conceptual resources…Read more
  •  18
    Three approaches to environmental political theory
    Contemporary Political Theory 15 (3). 2016.
  •  30
    The Political Philosophy of Science Policy
    Minerva 42 (1): 77-95. 2004.
    Reviews the book "Science, Truth, and Democracy," by Philip Kitcher
  •  115
    Science, democracy, and the right to research
    Science and Engineering Ethics 15 (3): 351-366. 2009.
    Debates over the politicization of science have led some to claim that scientists have or should have a “right to research.” This article examines the political meaning and implications of the right to research with respect to different historical conceptions of rights. The more common “liberal” view sees rights as protections against social and political interference. The “republican” view, in contrast, conceives rights as claims to civic membership. Building on the republican view of rights, t…Read more
  •  50
    Three ways to politicize bioethics
    American Journal of Bioethics 9 (2). 2009.
    Many commentators today lament the politicization of bioethics, but some suggest distinguishing among different kinds of politicization. This essay pursues that idea with reference to three traditions of political thought: liberalism, communitarianism, and republicanism. After briefly discussing the concept of politicization itself, the essay examines how each of these political traditions manifests itself in recent bioethics scholarship, focusing on the implications of each tradition for the de…Read more
  •  62
    Survey Article: Citizen Panels and the Concept of Representation
    Journal of Political Philosophy 14 (2): 203-225. 2006.
  •  46
    2009 Massachusetts Institute of Technology All rights reserved. No part of this book may ... ISBN 978-0-262-01324-6 (hardcover : alk. paper)— ISBN 978-0-262 -51304-3 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Science— Political aspects. 2. Science and state. 3 .
  •  21
    Public University Funding and the Privatization of Politics
    Spontaneous Generations 7 (1): 21-28. 2013.
    This essay first examines a few key aspects of the erosion of public university funding in the United States, showing how the ideal of value-free science has undermined efforts to defend a conception of universities as public goods. Then it considers how advocates of California's Proposition 30, a ballot initiative that restored some public university funding, frequently adopted the same logic of privatization they sought to counteract.
  •  79
    Philip Kitcher, Science in a Democratic Society
    Minerva 51 (3): 389-397. 2013.
    Philip Kitcher is a leading figure in the philosophy of science, and he is part of a growing community of scholars who have turned their attention from the field’s long-time focus on questions of logic and epistemology to the relation between science and society. Kitcher’s book Science, Truth, and Democracy (2001) charted a course between relativism and realism, arguing that the aims of science emerge from not only scientific curiosity but also practical and public concerns. The book also drew o…Read more
  •  20
    Benjamin Barber and the Practice of Political Theory
    with Richard Battistoni, John Dedrick, Lisa Disch, Jennet Kirkpatrick, and Jane Mansbridge
    Contemporary Political Theory 17 (4): 478-510. 2018.