How to deal with non-epistemic values in science presents a pressing
problem for science and society as well as for philosophers of science. In recent
years, accounts of democratizing science have been proposed as a possible solution
to this. By providing a case study on the establishment of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy comment: Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services
comment: (IPBES), I argue that such accounts run into a problem when values
are embedded in the general …
Read moreHow to deal with non-epistemic values in science presents a pressing
problem for science and society as well as for philosophers of science. In recent
years, accounts of democratizing science have been proposed as a possible solution
to this. By providing a case study on the establishment of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy comment: Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services
comment: (IPBES), I argue that such accounts run into a problem when values
are embedded in the general scientific and societal setup to such an extent that
they shape the terrain upon which such a democratization needs to take place.
I introduce the notion of particularities as manifestations of values in science
and state a problem of particularity, posed by the ways in which the interactive
dimension of particularities interferes with democratic procedures for resolving
value judgements in science. As a possible remedy, I propose enriching accounts
of democratizing science by agonistic theories of democracy