Science and Democracy

In this contribution I consider the relationship between science and democracy exclusively from a normative viewpoint by stressing how values like pluralism, tolerance, respect for facts, impartiality, and openness to criticism are common to both institutions. I then try to answer the following questions. (a) is there a reason that explains this communality of values, considering that the conflicts of interests among people living in democracies are much stronger than those characterizing research groups and that, correspondingly, consensus is much more difficult to reach in democracies? (b) If science and democracy can be characterized as two problem-solving institutions in a pragmatistic sense – where the notion of ‘problem’ here must be intended in the broadest possible sense – how do the decision-making processes in the two institutions differ? (c) Since science and technology are undergoing a continuous process of specialization, how can citizens make autonomous decision in public policies if they must rely almost entirely on the experts’ opinions?