Science’s positionality between knowledge production, policy advice and democratization ambitions

The starting point of this contribution is the observation, that the sciences are confronted with multifaceted external requirements and needs as well as internal demands and challenges. While being of considerable public interest, thus being important the scientific knowledge and knowledge production are also tied into a heterogeneous raison d’être, be it internal scientific purposes be it political, economic, legal use contexts or else. Being a researcher and university teacher as well as being consulted as an expert from political stakeholders, academics frequently act concurrently in several fields and in different roles. They thus often struggle to take up a coherent stance in the tensed relation of knowledge production and dissemination, yielding ‘scientific’ expertise in policy and advising politics. These developments are commonly addressed in debates on ‘science in society’ under headings such as the scientification of politics, the democratization of science via participatory research, citizen- and open science as well as responsible research and innovation and impact agendas. This contribution does not argue for or against one or another of these diagnoses, but wants to fathom out to which upheavals, and current issues these diagnoses respond. I argue that these labels seek to frame and interpret the lively challenges revolving around how academia can, could, and should take a stance on policies, and politics and how it positions itself in society. In a first step I sketch possible positionings of academia responding to fundamental claims on science in three dimensions: as a largely self-governing international population of scientists; as a field of activity seeking to explore, update and produce valid, reliable and robust knowledge that remain open to revision; as a practice embedded in society that is socio-economically, politically, culturally and ecologically effective. The first dimension alludes to the autonomy of science; The second touches on epistemic purposes of knowledge production; the third relates to the contentious role of professional scientific expertise in politics just as in society. Hence, the positioning of the sciences is caught in between the necessity to ensure research quality striving for profound knowledge and the quest to balance it with demands of legitimation of publicly funded science vis-à-vis the urgent need of scientifically informed policy in a democratic society. Against this background, in a second step, I will relate central mechanisms of governance of publicly funded sciences and academia to basic principles of democratic governance and democratic legitimacy. Finally. I will explore contours of an academic self-understanding across the spectrum of science as a service, science as epistemic authority, science as power resource for manipulation, science oriented to the common good and science as a democratic endeavor.