Science, Philosophy and Sustainability

The End of the Cartesian dream

Angela Guimaraes Pereira, Silvio Funtowicz

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2015
• ISBN:
  9781317634560
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Economics
• Subtopic: Sustainable Development
• Index: Economics

For science to remain a legitimate and trustworthy source of knowledge, society will have to engage in the collective processes of knowledge co-production, which not only includes science, but also other types of knowledge. This process of change has to include a new commitment to knowledge creation and transmission and its role in a plural society.

This book proposes to consider new ways in which science can be used to sustain our planet and enrich our lives. It helps to release and reactivate social responsibility within contemporary science and technology. It reviews critically relevant cases of contemporary scientific practice within the Cartesian paradigm, relabelled as 'innovation research', promoted as essential for the progress and well-being of humanity, and characterised by high capital investment, centralised control of funding and quality, exclusive expertise, and a reductionism that is philosophical as well as methodological.

This is an accessible and relevant book for scholars in Science and Technology Studies, History and Philosophy of Science, and Science, Engineering and Technology Ethics. Providing an array of concrete examples, it supports scientists, engineers and technical experts, as well as policy-makers and other non-technical professionals working with science and technology to re-direct their approach to global problems, in a more integrative, self-reflective and humble direction.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Contributors
• Foreword
• Preface: Descartes and the rediscovery of ignorance
• Acknowledgements
• Abbreviations
• Cartesian dreams
• PART I Foundations
• PART II Technoscience and innovation
• PART III Quality in an interconnected world
• Index