Abstract
This interdisciplinary project combines the methods of political philosophy, philosophy of science, philosophy of physics and philosophy of medicine to address four research questions (RQs):
RQ1. What are the virtuous and the vicious intersections between scientific knowledge and policy-making?
RQ2. What is a policy-oriented scientific method?
RQ3. Can a policy-oriented scientific method be politically and ethically neutral?
RQ4. Does, and if so to what extent, the involvement of scientific knowledge and science experts impinge on the legitimacy of the decisional process?
The main objective of the research project will be to determine to what extent scientific expertise can be involved in decision-making for the former to remain independent of the contingency of the policy agenda and the latter to preserve its legitimacy vis-à-vis the risk of the self-justifying use (and misuse) of scientific evidence.