Participatory Democracy, Science and Technology
Also by Karl Rogers ON THE METAPHYSICS OF EXPERIMENTAL PHYSICS MODERN SCIENCE AND THE CAPRICIOUSNESS OF NATURE
Participatory Democracy, Science and Technology An Exploration in the Philosophy of Science Karl Rogers
Karl Rogers 2008 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2008 978-0-230-52206-0 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 4LP. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2008 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010 Companies and representatives throughout the world PALGRAVE MACMILLAN is the global academic imprint of the Palgrave Macmillan division of St. Martin s Press, LLC and of Palgrave Macmillan Ltd. Macmillan is a registered trademark in the United States, United Kingdom and other countries. Palgrave is a registered trademark in the European Union and other countries. ISBN 978-1-349-35673-7 ISBN 978-0-230-59414-2 (ebook) DOI 10.1057/9780230594142 This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. A catalogue record for this book is available from the Library of Congress. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 09 08
For Ryan Johnson-McCourt
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To truly succeed as an emancipatory force, for the free initiative of all and everyone, the revolution must develop freely in a thousand different ways, corresponding to the thousand different moral and material conditions in which people now find themselves. And we must put forward and carry out as far as we can those ways of life that best correspond to our ideals. But above all we must make a special effort to awaken in the mass of people a spirit of initiative and the habit of doing things for themselves. Errico Malatesta, Question of Tactics, 1931 History teaches us that men behave wisely when they have exhausted all other alternatives. Billy Connolly, Still Crazy, 1999
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Contents Chapter 1 The Call for Democratic Participation 1 Participatory democracy, science and technology 5 Actually existing democracy 12 Participatory democracy, uncertainty and the good life 25 Chapter 2 Substantive Theories of Technology 38 Technological determinism 40 The humanist tradition and the technological society 51 The device paradigm 60 Chapter 3 Democratising the Technological Society 72 The technical as a subcategory of the social 76 The dialectics of technology 82 Choosing between civilisations 93 Chapter 4 Participatory Democracy 111 The thickening of thin democracy 115 Democratic assembly and reasoned deliberation 128 Workers control and cooperatives 136 Chapter 5 Science and Technology 143 Science, faith, and society 149 Scientific research and development as public property 161 Democratic participation in science and technology 169 Chapter 6 Towards a Rational Society 180 Human interests and the ideal speech situation 186 Democratic participation and socratic citizenship 198 Evolution or revolution? 206 Notes and References 220 Index 245 ix