Science in a democratic society
9 September 2005
Philip Kitcher, John Dewey Professor of Philosophy, Columbia University
I aim to explore two questions. First, does a commitment to democracy require that science be practised differently from the ways that are dominant in contemporary affluent democracies? Second, does a democratic society require a clear sense of the objectivity of scientific knowledge? I argue that these issues are importantly related, and develop my answers to them in terms of contemporary controversies about applications of our knowledge of molecular biology.