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2026-03-05 09:14:45 UTC

Ulrike Hahn on Nostr: random thought: discussions around the relationship between science and politics, ...

random thought: discussions around the relationship between science and politics, science and values, or science and activism have never completely resolved into a satisfactory answer for me and I just wondered whether the real issue is that science and political action are associated with *different modes of engagement*.

Scientific integrity, to me, includes engaging in good faith with all of the evidence, that means also a demand to engage with arguments by 'the other side'. Politics or activism does not require me to do that in any shape or form (though some such engagement might sometimes be instrumentally useful). That's the actual tension...

all of the discourse between 'objective' and 'subjective' or 'apolitical politics versus everything is political' is stuck on not quite the right thing

make sense? all comments welcome...