Science, Politics and Public Policy

Abstract

However one looks at it modern sciencemust stand as one of pinnacles of humanachievement. The fruits of scientific inquiryand practice are so ubiquitous to us that it isimpossible - or at the least as close to impossibleas to make little difference - for anyonein the modern world to conceive of any formof day to day reasoning which does not relyto some degree on the methods of scienceand scientific knowledge. Science and scientificmethods provide us with tools whichenable us to evaluate the world in which welive, both the ‘natural’ world and also ourown societies. In many ways science offersthe ultimate source of legitimacy in modernsociety, not many would offer up a policyor proposal without supporting it with somesort of scientific data or justification - even ifthe data or justification is more science-likethan science.