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Seminar: "What is post-normal science and why do we need it today?", with Silvio Funtowicz and Andrea Saltelli

Date: 2017-06-09


With Silvio Funtowicz and Andrea Saltelli 

Date: Friday, June 9th 2017
Time: 11.30h
Room: Z/023

Post normal science is not a new science in the sense of a new discipline – as if would be for example if Isac Asimov’s fantastic psychohistory were to be developed. Nor is it a claim to a new scientific method, though it has led to the development of PNS-inspired methodologies. PNS is foremost a set of practical insights meant to assist scientists and the recipients of their research to work together fruitfully in situation where  the fact are uncertain, the values in dispute, the stakes high and decision necessary of even urgent. More often than not, PNS prescribe what ought not to be done, what pitfalls should be avoided, and what should make us suspicious in appraising scientific facts. 

Thus, PNS warns against the dangers of reductionism - the idea that every problem can be decomposed into a sum of simpler problems, or against arbitrary separations between facts and values, especially at the science-policy interface, or against science as a truth-machine. PNS is foremost concerned about the quality of the scientific process, seen as recursive and reflexive. In the present situation of crisis of science and of expertise, and of run-away innovation, PNS can provide useful diagnoses, if not always therapies.  In the seminar, we shall discuss the genesis of PNS and how it can influence our way of doing science today.

It is highly recommended that you read this article before attending the seminar:

Silvio Funtowicz

He is the author of numerous books and papers in the field of environmental and technological risks and policy-related research. He has lectured extensively and is a member of the editorial board of several publications and the scientific committee of many projects and international conferences.

Andrea Saltelli 

He worked at the European Commission, at the Joint Research Centre where he led for ten years the unit of econometrics and applied statistics. His most recent papers have tackled sensitivity analysis and auditing, the ecological footprint, the future of statistics, and the rational of evidence based policy. He publishes a series of pieces on the crisis of science and the post-truth discussion in the online journal The Conversation, and gives courses in sensitivity analysis, sensitivity auditing and ethics of quantification. 

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