260063 Philosophy of Science Communication (S) (WiSe 2021/2022)

Communication is an essential yet complex collection of social activities mediating knowledge and practice between agents. Successful communication seems to enhance intended goals of agents involved, while miscommunication may be counterproductive. Such contrasts are often seen in a wide range of science-related issues concerning GMOs, vaccination, climate change, and nuclear power. We may thus ask: What are the purposes of communicating science? How does one make science communication effective? Are there general rules for communicating agents to follow? Should scientists speak to the public in ways they speak with their colleagues? How could scientists communicate their knowledge responsibly especially when there are commercial and political pressures? Should scientists work as advocates?

In this course, we take a philosophical look at science in the context of communication by focusing on various modes of communication that arise within science and between science and society. For the former, communication is important for scientists to develop and test their intellectual efforts so that epistemic trust and consensus may be established and further buttressed in the scientific community. For the latter, communication plays a significant role in scientifically informing options for tackling social problems, and even contributes to the development of science. To achieve a more general understanding of communication regarding science, we will closely examine the potentials and limitations of the mentioned modes of communication for achieving the intended goals of scientific and non-scientific agents in each specific case. And then we will discuss how philosophy of science could improve science communication more generally, and what role philosophers of science may play in appropriately communicating science for good reasons.

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