Abstract
This paper identifies four recent conceptualizations of politics in relation to technoscience that focus on expertise, institutional participation, the inclusion of non-human others and the importance of marginalized experiences. The paper argues that each of these forms of politics is mainly concerned with renegotiating the already constituted terms of inclusion in a specific technoscientific field. In many cases such a strategy is necessary, but the paper aims to open up discussion of alternative forms of politics that act as constituent forces of radical social and material transformation in technoscience: alter-ontologies.
Highlights
Attempts to find definite descriptions of the connection between technoscience and politics are usually prone to reductionism and oversimplification
The traditional way in philosophy of science to think of this relation was epistemology, where the content of technoscience and the associated politics were subordinated to ways of knowing and defining truth (Alcoff, 1998)
This leads to the final section of the paper, which attempts to open up debate on a form of politics which seems to be less visible in prevalent approaches to technoscience: I call this alter-ontological politics, in reference to the practices of new social actors emerging in the wake of the alter-globalization movements in the past ten years
Summary
One approach to how a region of objectivity is constituted and regulated is to illuminate how legitimacy is conferred to participate in a debate over a technoscientific issue This is a prescriptive approach to technoscience and politics, which tries to demarcate expertise and deploy a formal structure to resolve technoscientific controversies. Formalist politics ask what circumstances should be appropriate for resolving a technoscientific controversy, and what principles of deliberation should people reasonably embrace in order to achieve resolution That is, it tries to set out rules according to which all legitimate participants offer reasons for or against certain arguments; rules that need to be followed in unforced communications in which all participants act reasonably, and are well-informed (Habermas, 1993; Scanlon, 1998). Formalist politics perpetuate the given constituted order because they fail to engage with effective ways for intervening in the actual circumstances of a controversy
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
