Drifting to New Worlds: On Politics and Science in Modern Biotechnology

View/ Open
File version
Submitted Manuscript (SM)
Author(s)
Patapan, Haig
Griffith University Author(s)
Year published
2016
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
This chapter shows how the tension between science and politics manifests itself in practice by focusing on the case of biotechnology. Biotechnology, along with computing, nanotechnology and particle physics, is a new science with revolutionary potential. It describes how the history of biotechnology reveals a dynamic interchange between science and politics, where scientific innovation is funded, supported by politics and shaped by national and commercial interests. Though science is an important partner in this relationship, what people discern from this account is the overarching dominance of politics and commerce in ...
View more >This chapter shows how the tension between science and politics manifests itself in practice by focusing on the case of biotechnology. Biotechnology, along with computing, nanotechnology and particle physics, is a new science with revolutionary potential. It describes how the history of biotechnology reveals a dynamic interchange between science and politics, where scientific innovation is funded, supported by politics and shaped by national and commercial interests. Though science is an important partner in this relationship, what people discern from this account is the overarching dominance of politics and commerce in directing scientific innovation. The authoritative influence of politics conceals a more powerful scientific impulse that seems impervious to political control. Biotechnological challenges to politics are usually interpreted or defined as 'ethical' problems that can be resolved with suitable examination, discussion and debate.
View less >
View more >This chapter shows how the tension between science and politics manifests itself in practice by focusing on the case of biotechnology. Biotechnology, along with computing, nanotechnology and particle physics, is a new science with revolutionary potential. It describes how the history of biotechnology reveals a dynamic interchange between science and politics, where scientific innovation is funded, supported by politics and shaped by national and commercial interests. Though science is an important partner in this relationship, what people discern from this account is the overarching dominance of politics and commerce in directing scientific innovation. The authoritative influence of politics conceals a more powerful scientific impulse that seems impervious to political control. Biotechnological challenges to politics are usually interpreted or defined as 'ethical' problems that can be resolved with suitable examination, discussion and debate.
View less >
Book Title
Policy Legitimacy, Science and Political Authority: Knowledge and Action in Liberal Democracies
Publisher URI
Copyright Statement
© 2016 Taylor & Francis. This is an Accepted Manuscript of a book chapter published by Routledge in Policy Legitimacy, Science and Political Authority: Knowledge and action in Liberal Democracies on 5 October 2015, available online: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315688060
Subject
Political science not elsewhere classified