Commitment Issues in Science & Technology Studies: On the Necessity of Compromising One’s Principles
Abstract
There have been longstanding discussions regarding the place of normative commitments in Science and Technology Studies (STS) scholarship. Analysing STS critiques of Innovation Studies and accounts of the institutionalisation of RRI in the European Union, the article highlights how co-productionist scholarship often commits to second-order (meta-governance) principles rather than first-order (substantial) principles. Relating this tendency to the debate surrounding the third wave of science studies and Norwegian philosopher Hans Skjervheim’s liberal dilemma, the article emphasises the importance of distinguishing formal and substantial commitments and recognising that the reification of norms (e.g., in governance and prescriptive frameworks) requires translating those norms into substantial principles. This also requires delimiting those principles. The article provides three suggestions on how STS scholars may relate to normative commitments.
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