Democracy, science and the state

Reflections on the disaster(s) of our times

Bibliographic Data

ID11340670
AuthorsSeyla Benhabib (0000-0002-7318-028X, Columbia Law School, USA; Yale University, USA, corresponding author)
Year2021
Volume47
Issue4
Pages477-485
Publication date2021-05-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenuePhilosophy & Social Criticism (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0191-4537 • E-ISSN: 1461-734X
PublisherSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/01914537211006771
OpenAlexW3153826241
LanguageEN
Citations received3

The global Covid-19 pandemic has changed many aspects of our social and political lives, such as the balance between work and family, the shrinking role of the public sphere and the growth of government by executive or emergency powers. Among the most surprising consequences of this situation has been the rise of scepticism and hostility towards science and scientific authorities. This essay examines the interdependence of modern science and the modern state via a brief detour to Hobbes’s philosophy. The economic growth and affluence made possible by the yoking of scientific technology to a modern market economy served to legitimize public power for several centuries. We have reached the end of this cycle and we need a science in the service of reversing the damages inflicted by the Anthropocene on the earth; we need economic production in the service of human equality and dignity, and we need a state in which the alliance between big pharma, big capital and big data is harnessed for a new green deal rather than serving corporate greed

Alliance · Democracy · Environmental ethics · Law and economics · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · State (computer science · Law · Neuroethics, Human Enhancement, Biomedical Innovations · Space Science and Extraterrestrial Life

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