Scientific and innovative cultures: Social progress

In his 2001 book Science, Truth and Democracy, the American philosopher Philip Kitcher asks how we can protect science from society, and society from science. These are two antithetical questions which rise different issues regarding the relationship between science and society and evoke different historical moments: the defense of the autonomy of science in the origins of modern science policy after World War II, and the anti-scientist criticism of the counterculture movement in the years of the Vietnam War. Yet both the 40s of Vannevar Bush, as well as the 60s and 70s of Paul Feyerabend, have lagged far behind. However, today, it is not uncommon that the relations between science and society continue to be raised in the above terms, as a matter of protection or boundary delimitation. In our opinion, this is not the position to adopt. In the XXI century, protective boundaries are not what we need but lines of communication and exchange spaces.

The growing political and economic importance of science is accompanied in the modern knowledge-based society by the continued intensification of civil activism and democratic institutions, therefore the key issue is not protection but social and economic appropriation and accountability. Paraphrasing a famous quote attributed to Einstein, recognizing the problem and formulating it properly is more important than trying to find the solution. Posing questions appropriately is to focus suitably challenges and to set priorities in a realistic way, is a big step towards the answers, even if these, in a Popperian spirit, are just temporary stations for the formulation of new questions.

Issues relevant today raise questions about the protagonists of the regulation and control of technological change, on the scientific knowledge ownership (public good or commodity?), on the opportunities and risks of technological innovation and industrialization, or on the function of expertise in governance processes. These are aspects that define axes for reflection on the role that scientific and innovative cultures can play in social progress.

Thereby the symposium "scientific and innovative cultures: social progress" aims to provide a space for doubt in the Socratic sense of cultivated and open ignorance, that is, a space for reflection and critical discussion aimed at formulating questions and the exchange of ideas. The thematic focus is the social appropriation of science, encouraging a culture of innovation and the role of today's science and innovation, in interaction with individuals and institutions, with regard to social progress. To this end, the conference brings together leading thinkers and academics, both national and foreign, from various disciplines but with a common concern about the public understanding of science, communication of scientific and innovation cultures, and the social consequences of these processes. The conference is divided into three sections: the first deals with conceptual and methodological issues; the second tackles the challenges and opportunities in diffusion and communication; and the third focuses on the issues relating to social effects of the implementation of such uses. These are three spaces not for the exposure of certainties but for the debate and intelligent inquiry on how to place the relations between science and society in the service of social progress.

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