Publication Date:
2019-05-12
Description:
Technology assessment (TA) emerged more than fifty years ago to provide information supply, decision support, and orientation for democratic processes and institutions in many democratic countries. This historical observation alone, however, does not justify speaking of an inherent relationship between TA and democracy. The latter requires taking a conceptual view. Arguments supporting the thesis of the inherently democratic nature of TA will be given based on pragmatist approaches developed by John Dewey and Jürgen Habermas. This perspective on TA has specific implications for the inclusion of the knowledge and perspectives of stakeholders, people affected and citizens involved in TA processes, as well as the necessity to develop or strengthen thinking in alternative options. Furthermore, it makes clear that in the current crisis of democracy in many countries, TA cannot take a distant and neutral position.
Print ISSN:
0302-3427
Electronic ISSN:
1471-5430
Topics:
Nature of Science, Research, Systems of Higher Education, Museum Science
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