From Commodification to the Common Good: Reconstructing Science, Technology, and Society - Hardcover

Radder, Hans

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0822945797 ISBN 13: 9780822945796

Publisher: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2019

Synopsis

The commodification of science―often identified with commercialization, or the selling of expertise and research results and the “capitalization of knowledge” in academia and beyond―has been investigated as a threat to the autonomy of science and academic culture and criticized for undermining the social responsibility of modern science. In From Commodification to the Common Good, Hans Radder revisits the commodification of the sciences from a philosophical perspective to focus instead on a potential alternative, the notion of public-interest science. Scientific knowledge, he argues, constitutes a common good only if it serves those affected by the issues at stake, irrespective of commercial gain. Scrutinizing the theory and practices of scientific and technological patenting, Radder challenges the legitimacy of commercial monopolies and the private appropriation and exploitation of research results. His book invites us to reevaluate established laws and to question doctrines and practices that may impede or even prohibit scientific research and social progress so that we might achieve real and significant transformations in service of the common good.

About this title

About the Author

Hans Radder is professor emeritus in philosophy of science and technology at the Department of Philosophy of VU University Amsterdam, Netherlands. He is a fellow of the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities and Social Sciences and the Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Bielefeld, Germany.

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Pittsburgh Press
• Publication date: 2019
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0822945797
• ISBN 13: 9780822945796
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 312