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The recent coronavirus pandemic proved that the time-old notion seems now truer than ever: that science and politics represent a clash of cultures. But why should scientists simply "stick to the facts" and leave politics to the politicians when the world seems to be falling down around us?
Drawing on his experience as both a research scientist and an expert advisor at the centre of government, Ian Boyd takes an empirical approach to examining the current state of the relationship between science and politics. He argues that the way politicians and scientists work together today results in a science that is on tap for ideological (mis)use, and governance that fails to serve humanity's most fundamental needs. Justice is unlikely-perhaps impossible-while science is not a fully integrated part of the systems for collective decision-making across society.
In
Science in Politics, Boyd presents an impassioned argument for a series of conceptual and structural innovations that could resolve this fundamental tension, revealing how a radical intermingling of these (apparently contradictory) professions might provide the world with better politics
and better science.
Also available as an audiobook.
List of contents
Introduction - The Scientific Predicament
Part 1: A Troubled Marriage 1. Beyond two cultures
2. The anatomy of a troubled marriage
3. Inside the politics factory
4. Rationalising the politics factory
5. Gateways to the politics factory
6. Shoring up the marriage
Part 2: The Corruption of Science 7. The subjective by-pass
8. Products of the politics factory - Evidence:
quod erat demonstrandum
9. 'What works' in the factory?
10. Following the crowd
11. Trust in experts
12. Redefining quality
Part 3: Taming the Beast 13. Playing the paradigm game
14. Taming wickedness
15. Adaptive policy testing: Making policy into science
16. More than just widgets
17. Fixing the marriage
About the author
Sir Ian Boyd is Bishop Wardlaw Professor in the School of Biology at the University of St. Andrews, Chair of the UK Research Integrity Office, and President of the Royal Society of Biology. He was Chief Scientific Adviser to the UK Government on Food and the Environment from 2012 to 2019.
Summary
The recent coronavirus pandemic proved that the time-old notion seems now truer than ever: that science and politics represent a clash of cultures. But why should scientists simply "stick to the facts" and leave politics to the politicians when the world seems to be falling down around us?
Drawing on his experience as both a research scientist and an expert advisor at the centre of government, Ian Boyd takes an empirical approach to examining the current state of the relationship between science and politics. He argues that the way politicians and scientists work together today results in a science that is on tap for ideological (mis)use, and governance that fails to serve humanity's most fundamental needs. Justice is unlikely--perhaps impossible--while science is not a fully integrated part of the systems for collective decision-making across society.
In Science in Politics, Boyd presents an impassioned argument for a series of conceptual and structural innovations that could resolve this fundamental tension, revealing how a radical intermingling of these (apparently contradictory) professions might provide the world with better politics and better science.
