Samenvatting

Summary Biology and Society: professional Aspects, lectures and practice questions

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Rijksuniversiteit Groningen (RuG)

First all lectures are discussed. For this course we also had to study a Syllabus, the content of the Syllabus is added to this summary. In the end there are some practice questions to test yourself for the exam

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Type Samenvatting

science
policy
stakeholder analysis
ethos of science
morality
kant
falsifications
paradigms
benthams classical utilitarianism

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Biology, society and ethics
 There are two layers in science
o Theoretical statements  based on verifiable statements
o Empirical statements  based on observations

General positions science in policy
1. Dualistic
a. Gap between science and policy
b. Science (facts) and policy (values) must be separated as much as possible to focus on
pure, fundamental science.
c. Pros: no interference of values or interest
d. Cons: does not work, there is a strong division of responsibilities.
e. The end of dualistic time is the end of the ivory tower – the ivory tower is a place
where people are happily cut off from the rest of the world, so science and policy are
cut off from each other.

2. Politicized
a. Policy makers should determine important choices in science
b. National councils (NOW) ask for societal engagement
c. Steering of science
 Weak – politicians favours certain scientific approaches over others
- Themes is a form of weak steering – they are only interested in the answer,
environmental factors/consequences do not matter.
- The goals of scientific research are determined by the interests of the
policy makers.
 Strong – political views are translated into scientific theories
- Blocking google access

d. Pros: society relevant science (only one theory counts) – they only want to know
scientific information that matters to society
e. Cons: ‘own’ norms of science disappear
f. Example: Stalin, Lyssenko and wheat
- Property gained during life will be given to the next generation (=Lamarck
hypothesis)
- Stalin was the leader of Russia these days after revolution to increase
harvest production by wheat.
- So Stalin and Lyssenko worked together to let wheat grow everywhere,
independent of climate.
- Only this theory counts – so other biologists were forced to leave the
country
- Unfortunately, Lyssenko was wrong.

, - Lysenkoism: rejecting natural selection in favour of Lamarckism.
Lamarckism proposes that an organism can somehow pass on
characteristics that it has acquired during its lifetime to its offspring,
implying that change in the body can affect the genetic material in the
germ line.
g. Example: Hitler, Mengele, Aryan race
- Twins (eugenetics) are separated from other races
- So he started experiments in Auschwitz on twins
- So again, one theory counts and other biologists had to leave
h. So in both cases policy is connected to existing theory – only one theory matters

3. Technocratic or scientistic
a. Scientists should determine important choices in policy
b. Science is seen as the superior option so science strongly determines policy
c. Science is the best basis to solve societal problems
d. Pros: rational decisions
e. Cons: not democratic and not all scientists are ready to take this responsibility to give
far reaching policy advices. Some scientists may play fraud/spread wrong
information.
f. Weak steering policy  scientists provide their data but policy makers can decide for
themselves what to do with it
g. Strong steering policy  scientists determine the solutions and the policy makers do
not have a say in it.

h. Example: human genome – importance of genetics
- Craig Venter
- Genetification of the world
- Change from chemistry to genetics and biology to change the whole
industry
- Synthetic genomics
i. Example: bacteria are key for many diseases
- Louis Pasteur (France) found out the existence of microorganisms
- He declared all other approaches useless and only himself was the best
advisor
j. Example: ICT should solve all problems and connects everyone and everything

4. Interactive
a. Scientists and policy-makers should cooperate closely
b. Connected via debates or other (inter)national platforms
c. This is called regulatory science – scientific knowledge is incorporated in policy.
d. Pros: best of two worlds

, e. Cons: sometimes unclear mixture of criteria and responsibilities. Difficult to realise,
when do you allow politics to influence and to what extent?
f. Why should politics leave the policy arena? They need science for solutions, they like
to influence and steer to make science society proof.
g. Why should scientists leave the ivory tower? They need money, they have the
solutions and society asks for help.
h. Example: IPCC climate change

When do policy and science interact?
Window of opportunity: a relative short time period during which desired policy action can be taken.
During this period, problems, options and political preferences come together.
 Consequences are taken into account as result of the problem – such as online education
caused by Covid-19

Politics are always involved in science, in each stage of the process
- Stage 1: what’s going on? Agenda setting
o The agenda should be described as a list of selected subjects and problems to which
time, money and other resources should be located.
o Scientists can contribute hereby to tell the problem – problem recognition
o Public agenda: everything is discussed in the media. A topic of the public does not
have to be included in the political agenda until there is major discussion about it in
the public and then it is included – example: Dolly the sheep
- Stage 2: influence of scientists. Controlled development, but differs from country to country
o Policy formulation – formulate a plan of action
o Scientists provide knowledge and information
o Policy theory – the combinations of aims and means that they want and are able to
realise in the policy
- Stage 3: implementation phase – development of vaccines, distance 1.5m, testing
o Execution of the formulated plan and its control
o Policy and quality are monitored and thereby under control
- Stage 4: evaluation
How to include science during designing new policy?
- Designing policy  theoretical frame (analysis, norms and aims and means)
Analysis: what causes the problem?
Norms: what do we want
Aims and means: what are we going to do and will that work?

- Example: obesity
o Cause: cheap food, free availability of fat food
o Norm: BMI less than X for elderly people
o Aim: everybody healthy within 20 years
o Means: closing fast food shops, taxes for sweet and fat food, stimulate biking and
hiking, education

, Types of problems

A: science can be used as
problem-solver. A tamed
problem is the hole in the
ozon layer.
B: High ethical
discussion but science
cannot tell whether a
risk is acceptable or
not. Example:
someone thinks the
speed of 130 km is too
hard and others are
willing to take that risk

Untamed problem: science
does not know the cause
and society does not know
how to deal with it
(climate change)

- Moderately structured scientific problems
o Lack of certainty or consensus regarding the knowledge or means required
o Little disagreement in society about the norms, values and ends
o Either to little scientific knowledge or controversies around the application and
consequences of the research
o Science can provide information and evoke a discussion
- Moderately structured ethical problems
o Problems that about which enough information is present, but where ethical issues
are raised (discussed)
o Pacification policy needed: compromise made in which no parties have to abandon
their principles
- Unstructured problems (wicked problems)
o Clash between fundamental views or paradigms (e.g. between scientists)
o Caused by a lack of consensus regarding goals, norms and values  science can’t
provide a clear-cut solution
- Every problem required a different problem-solving strategy
o Tamed problems are solved: treatment possible by experts without further
ethical/political debate
o (Un)tameable scientific problems need further research and science should stimulate
a debate
o (un)tameable ethical problems ask for pacification
o Untamed problems ask for broad discussion in society, search for solution of sub-
problems that are tameable  step by step approach

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