The Governance of "Well-Ordered Science", from Ideal Conversation to Public Debate

Abstract

In two important books, Science, Truth and Democracy and Science in a Democratic Society, Philip Kitcher has proposed a model of "well-ordered science". The well-ordered science aims to match at the same time the requirements of democracy and those of the scientific practice. The goal of this paper is to confront this philosophical model to the reality of science policy and institutional frameworks.  The focus is put on a case study: a public debate on nanotechnologies which took place in France a couple of years ago.