The Rolf Buchdahl Lecture on Science, Technology, and Values

2013-2014 Buchdahl Lecture: Thursday, September 26, 2013 — 7:30-9:00 PM

Park Shops Room 210, 101 Current Drive, NCSU North Campus (Building #33 on North campus map)

Sponsored by the NC State Program in Science, Technology, and Society, and NC State Program in Genetic Engineering and Society

Professor Sheila Jasanoff

Founding Director, STS Program, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University

The Invisible Constitution: Science, Technology, and Democracy in Europe and the United States
Political theorists have reflected long and hard on the principles by which a few people may legitimately rule many others. The constitutions of modern states codify the most basic of these principles. In this talk, I will argue that there are tacit rules of delegation by which a few people are authorized to know on behalf of many, although the forms of epistemic delegation have received much less attention from theorists. These rules vary in interesting ways across countries — in effect making up their invisible constitutions. Examples such as the regulation of nuclear power, genetic modification, and nanotechnology will be used to illustrate cross-national differences in the constitutional position of science.

For more information about Professor Sheila Jasanoff, please visit http://ids.chass.ncsu.edu/sts/buchdahl2013-Jasanoff.php