Vol 8, No 1, 2009 pp. 1-8
UDC 001; 001.18; 165
REFLECTIONS ON THE CHANGING PROFILE OF SCIENCE AND KNOWLEDGE
Charalambos Tsekeris
Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences in Athens, Greece
E-mail: tsekeris@gmail.com
This paper constitutes a theoretical reflection on the gradually changing profile of science and knowledge, from a reflexive sociological and epistemological standpoint. The first part draws upon some relevant debates on the university, science, knowledge, and their so-called "reflexive turn". The analytic attention here is mainly focused on the sociological and epistemological significance of "knowledge of knowledge", the "naturalization" or "socialization" of epistemology and the multiple effects of social complexity. The second part seeks to comprehensively describe and critically discuss the two central phases of the radical wave of social scientific studies of science and technology. The first "descriptivist" phase is reflexively reconstructed in terms of a social theory of knowledge (social epistemology). The second "postmodern" phase is reflexively reconstructed in terms of a new sense of "knowledge politics". This new sense eventually gives technoscience the unique historical opportunity to creatively accomplish and boost its autonomy, within an ethics of epistemological weakness.
Key words: Knowledge Society and Knowledge Politics, Social Epistemology, Science-Technology-Society, Autonomy and Reflexivity.
RAZMIŠLJANJA O PROMENI PROFILA NAUKE I ZNANJA
Rad sažeto predstavlja teoretska razmišljanja o postepenoj promeni profila nauke i znanja sa refleksivnog sociološkog i epistemološkog stanovišta. Prvi deo predstavlja relevantne debate o univerzitetu, nauci, znanju i takozvanom "refleksivnom zaokretu". Analitička pažnja posvećuje se ovde sociološkom i epistemološkom "znanju znanja", "naturalizaciji" ili "socijalizaciji" epistemologijije i višestrukim efektima socijalne složenosti. Drugi deo razumljivo opisuje i kritički razmatra dve centralne faze radikalnog talasa socijalnih i naučnih proučavanja nauke i tehnologije. Prva "opisna" faza refleksivno se rekonstruiše kroz pojmove društvene teorije znanja (socijalna epistemologija). Druga "postmoderna" faza refleksivno se rekonstruiše kroz pojmove novog smisla "znanja politike". Ovaj novi smisao eventualno pruža tehnonauci jedinstvenu istorijsku mogućnost da kreativno ostvari i da se ponosi svojom autonomijom unutar etike epistemološke slabosti.
Ključne reči: Znanje društva i znanje politike, socijana epistemologija, nauka-tehnologija-nauka, autonomija i refleksivnost