Systems of Socio-Humanitarian Expertise in Technoscience: Global Experience in Review

Abstract

Introduction. This article is dedicated to the highly relevant philosophical and methodological problem of organising effective social oversight for developing and implementation innovative technoscientific projects. The fundamental transformations that science has induced in matters of production and its associated technological/socio-administrative functions have made this topic all the more relevant, to the detriment of its humanistic component. The intensive expansion of technosciences into all spheres of human existence accentuates the risks typically associated with it. The nature of the technoscience thus requires transdisciplinary comprehension and reorientation towards traditional human values — those of truth and common good. An effective mechanism for social reflection on the achievements of technoscience falls under the purview of socio-humanitarian expertise. This expertise dictates that we must attract not only the elite scientific community but also social institutions, public organisations and broad masses of volunteers — non-professional experts who possess the ability for creative self-organisation and can provide useful insights. Methods. We have employed comparative analytical methods of real experiences to establish the relevance of the main provisions of the Russian socio-humanitarian expertise to foreign approaches and programmes, such as Responsible Research and Innovation, Social Assessment of Technology, among others, defining the ethically acceptable contours of modern technoscience. Results and Discussion. To accomplish this task, we researched American, Western European and Russian philosophers of science and technology and the empirical materials of domestic and foreign sociology of science, in which the results of public reflection on techno-scientific achievements are recorded. We also analysed opinion polls and expert interviews on the problems of socio-humanitarian expertise. Conclusion. Based on an analysis of studies devoted to the ethical aspects of modern technoscience, gaps and shortcomings of the existing methods and techniques of socio-humanitarian expertise are identified, and examples of successful communication between science and society are demonstrated in order to increase social trust in modern technoscience and reduce potential risks.