When I promised to say more about what I am going to focus on, I knew that this promise would lead me straight into some dilemmas which I had not really solved, and that it was time to face them. The “cases” I originally had in mind for the project consisted of relevant areas of [...]
Archive for June, 2009
6. Visualizing the world
Posted in Aims of Science, Helpful technology?, tagged Gapminder, global perspective, Paul Collier on June 24, 2009 | 1 Comment »
5. Shopping for research
Posted in Aims of Science, Dualism, Incentives, Other, tagged bottom-of-pyramid, Ghana-Dutch Health program, moral dualism on June 19, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Has the 10/90 gap taken us to a new gap—between real life research policy as dominated by economic valorisation, and a responsible but utopian research policy that prioritizes neglected people and neglected questions? And if so, what to do? Refine the arguments for change? Philip Kitcher’s arguments for global significance in science (elaborated in his [...]
4. What is science for?
Posted in Aims of Science, Research policy, tagged aims of science, competitiveness, flory and kitcher, global science, significant truth on June 11, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Last week’s contrast, between science as concerned about global issues and science as valorised through patents and licences, made me realise that globalization of science can mean very different things, which rest on different views of the goals of science, and the obligations of scientists that come with them. We live in the era of [...]
3. Who is “we”?
Posted in Aims of Science, Incentives, Intellectual property, Publishing, Research policy, tagged NGI, research policy, valorization on June 3, 2009 | 3 Comments »
Looking at the statistics of global inequalities is enough for the conclusion that something should be done. No intricate theories of justice or complicated concepts of equality are needed; the inequalities are simply too stark. However, the “how” of remedies is very complicated, in development aid in general, and also when it comes to the [...]
