Knowledge in Crisis
14. Annual Colloquium
- Start: Nov 18, 2021
- End: Nov 19, 2021
- Speaker: 14. Institutstag des MPIfG
- Host: Max-Planck-Institut für Gesellschaftsforschung
- Contact: info@mpifg.de
We lead with “science and truth” promised US President-elect Joe Biden at the presentation of his Cabinet. And in response to the “Querdenker” movement in Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel stressed that objective science serves as her foundation. In a time of crisis like the coronavirus pandemic, whether political leaders acknowledge facts and consider scientific assessments can make the difference between life and death. At the same time, the changing opportunities for participation in discourse have created a confusing field of claims to and on knowledge. But whose knowledge counts? And what do we know for certain? In pandemic response, climate policy, or economic governance, far-reaching decisions must be made on the basis of uncertain knowledge, inevitably politicizing science. At a time when criticism of expert knowledge is being instrumentalized for conspiracy theories and we see the importance of acknowledged facts for democratic action, we need new approaches to the analysis and evaluation of knowledge.
