Science, Politics and Morality: Scientific Uncertainty and Decision Making (Theory and Decision Library A:, 17)

Current environmental problems and technological risks are a challenge for a new institutional arrangement of the value spheres of Science, Politics and Morality. Distinguished authors from different European countries and America provide a cross-disciplinary perspective on the problems of political decision making under the conditions of scientific uncertainty. cases from biotechnology and the environmental sciences are discussed. The papers collected for this volume address the following themes: (i) controversies about risks and political decision making; (ii) concepts of science for policy; (iii) the use of social science in the policy making process; (iv) ethical problems with developments in science and technology; (v) public and state interests in the development and control of technology. Front Matter....Pages I-XI Introduction....Pages 1-4 Front Matter....Pages 5-5 Controversies and Political Decision Making....Pages 7-26 Controversies about Risks and Their Relation to Different Paradigms in Biological Research....Pages 27-41 Probabilistic Uncertainty and Technological Risks....Pages 43-60 Front Matter....Pages 61-61 A New Branch of Science, Inc.....Pages 63-84 The Emergence of Post-Normal Science....Pages 85-123 Front Matter....Pages 125-125 Argumentation and Power in Evaluation-Research and in Its Utilization in the Policy-Making Process....Pages 127-158 Front Matter....Pages 159-159 Scientific Knowledge, Discourse Ethics, and Consensus Formation on Public Policy Issues....Pages 161-180 The Argument about a New Paradigm for Health Research....Pages 181-188 AIDS and Human Rights: A Societal Choice....Pages 189-203 Front Matter....Pages 205-205 Biotechnology and Social Perception....Pages 207-219 Scientific Controversies in Food Biotechnology....Pages 221-230 Back Matter....Pages 231-236