Unhastening Science

Temporal Demarcations in the `Social Triangle

Bibliographic Data

ID2397611
AuthorsDick Pels (AMSTERDAM SCHOOL FOR SOCIAL SCIENCE RESEARCH, THE NETHERLANDS, corresponding author)
Year2003
Volume6
Issue2
Pages209-231
Publication date2003-05-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueEuropean Journal of Social Theory (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1368-4310 • E-ISSN: 1461-7137
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/1368431003006002004
OpenAlexW2147566028
LanguageEN
Citations received17
References cited45

What is so special about science? Taking up the old epistemological challenge, this article seeks to rephrase the question of scientific autonomy beyond conventional essentialist criteria of demarcation between science and society. The specificity of science is primarily sought in its studied 'lack of haste', its socially sanctioned withdrawal from the swift pace of everyday life and from 'faster' cultures such a politics and business. This 'unhastened' quality defines science's peculiar delaying tactics, which systematically slow down and objectify ordinary conversations, actions, and conflicts, attracting 'slow' personalities who read and write more and talk less than the 'fast cats' who are attracted to more decisionist, stress-driven and hasty cultures. Such a description, rather than claiming performative innocence, simultaneously expresses the ambition to strengthen what it characterizes, i.e. to liberate science from the stress and haste which are increasingly imposed upon it by the 'external' pressures and performance criteria of enterprise culture and political correctness, and by the growing impact of media publicity and the academic celebrity system. In this fashion, the article simultaneously advances a new factual description of the specificity of scientific practice and a new normative/political project to enhance scientific and intellectual autonomy

Autonomy · Epistemology · Normative · Performative utterance · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Climate Change Communication and Perception · Information Systems Theories and Implementation · Law · Philosophy · University-Industry-Government Innovation Models