Science and Ideology
Call for contributions to a new Special Issue
The Grand Challenges Blog @HEC Lausanne
By Laurence Jeangros, Lilly Felber, Philipp Censkowsky and Robin Schimmelpfennig (the Editorial team)
April 1st, 2025
The world is in profound trouble. The erosion of constitutional norms in the U.S., escalating military conflicts, and an accelerating ecological crisis set us up for a century of uncertainty. In such tumultuous times, society has looked up to one specific institution to find orientation: science. In today’s context, though, the question remains of whether and how science can offer a different kind of guidance than ideology.
In our new Special Issue on ‘Science and Ideology’, we invite you to offer your take on questions that have permeated the philosophy of science since its inception and now, in times of crisis, need our attention more than ever. Can and should science be free from ideology? Past work has separated this discussion into two main camps: On the one hand, there are those who advocate for a science that isand should be ideologically neutral (e.g., Friedman 1953) and whose objective is to incrementally cumulate objective knowledge (e.g., Popper 1972). On the other hand, there are those claiming that science is not and cannot be ideologically neutral. This is because of normative assumptions and research programs that underlie scientific approaches (e.g., Lakatos 1970 or Funtowicz and Ravetz 1993), let alone epistemic reasons against the possibility of objective knowledge, warranting situated claims (e.g., Haraway 1988).
We invite you to contribute to this debate by developing your own perspective: what do you think? What is the place of ideology in science? What is the place of science in ideology?
We are keen to hear your views!
Below, you can find a non-exhaustive list of topics that you may want to explore (500-1000 words). You can, of course, propose your own topic.
Deadline to submit an abstract (150 words): We accept submissions on a running basis until the end of 2025.
How to submit: Please follow our submission guidelines that are available here.
| Categories | Example questions/topics |
| The Philosophy of Science and Ideology | • Popper versus Lakatos: Science as falsifiable doctrine or normative research program? • Paradigm shifts in science • Post-normal age: science beyond mission-driven problem-solving |
| Sustainability science and ideology | • Inclusion and exclusion criteria for ‘good’ science in the Anthropocene. • Can or should sustainability science be apolitical? • Sustainability science in post-growth and degrowth scholarshipSpeculative rigor versus formalism |
| Ideology in economic ideas | • Neoliberalism • Marxism/anarchism • Imperialism/colonialism |
| The political economy of scientific research funding | • Private-commercial interests in financing of scientific research • The demise of the research funding in the U.S. under Trump administration. • Funding and ensuring independent and rigorous science in a multipolar world order. |
| Identity, diversity, equity, and inclusion in science | • The politicization of science through identity discourse • Scientific objectivity and the challenge of standpoint epistemology • Normative versus empirical approaches to diversity in science |
