Eunoè: a manifesto for science
Just before the summer I was inaugurating with some friends Eunoè, a social promotion association for the study and dissemination of the role of science in complex societies. The initiative was born from the idea of gathering and coordinating the efforts of all those who in the governmental exploitation of science have sensed not already a danger, but the more serious danger hanging over contemporary political representation.
Today, no great hermeneutic efforts are needed to find that the most controversial policies all, in one way or another, base their reasons in the presumption of scientific "evidence" to whose authoritativeness one cannot oppose without appearing retrograde, nostalgic or superstitious. From the emergencies of the "climate" to the "harsh laws" of the economy, from the mass transfer of human beings from one continent to another to the drive to digitize, automate and connect everything, from new pansexual theories to the imposition of pedagogical protocols and health, what "says science" has become the new "Deus vult", the last talisman to magically overcome, in the Ferenczian sense, the labors and compromises of a democracy increasingly poorly tolerated by its protagonists.
In repeating that "science is not democratic" the reciprocal invasion of the field between the complementary domains of scientia and kράτος has normalized , putting them in competition with the implicit claim to derogate from democratic processes whenever they are called to deliberate on alleged issues competence of the scientists. This paved the way for a state of exception in which not only the possibility of plural political thought, but also scientific thought, collapses . With the « Transversal Pact for Science » launched by a well-known virologist from the Marches, it was subsequently clarified that one cannot expect to govern in the name of science without governing science . In fact, the document introduced an entirely political distinction between scientists and "pseudoscientists" to arrive at the hope that the power in charge "would stop" the latter, thus entering the process of free confrontation between exponents of the scientific community and thus stifling it .
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The Eunoè association aims to react to this dangerous state of affairs. The epistemological paradigm to which it adheres is that of the post-normal science of Funtowicz and Ravetz , which in the presence of decisions characterized by strong uncertainty and broad social impact recommends extending the basis of knowledge and judgments not only to the strictly competent scientific community, but to the entire stakeholder base ("extended peer community").
The first initiative launched by the association is a Manifesto for science which summarizes its inspiring principles. The Manifesto is available at manifesto.eunoe.org and is open for signature by politicians, academics and researchers (of all disciplines), doctors and journalists. Those of those belonging to these categories who wish to sign or receive more information can write to [email protected].
The Manifesto will be presented to the public on Saturday 28 September in Bologna at the Casa dell'Angelo room, in via San Mamolo, 24, at 6 pm. Admission is free and without reservation. Other presentations will follow, being organized.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Il Pedante at the URL http://ilpedante.org/post/eunoe-un-manifesto-per-la-scienza on Sun, 01 Sep 2019 11:05:00 PDT.