Knowing and Acting

Abstract

Transdisciplinary science addresses problems of specifically practical concern that are raised by the general public or by politics. In this chapter we deal with “scientific expertise”, i.e., recommendations issued by scientists on problems that are relevant from an extra-scientific point of view. These recommendations are based on scientific knowledge, but directed at concrete problems. Expert recommendations address specific challenges and are expected to provide tailor-made proposals as to how to deal with these challenges. Scientific experts often give policy advice and draw on science for elaborating their recommendations. For instance, scientific experts decide about the efficacy of medical drugs or about the safety of tanning devices or cell phones (as the German radiation protection commission, the Strahlenschutzkommission, does). The usual self-understanding of scientific experts is that they bring scientific knowledge to bear on the particular case at hand. Expertise is often passed off as the mere tapping of the repository of knowledge or of simply applying scientific knowledge to experience.