Normative Reflexions on Constructivist Approaches to Science and Technology

Abstract

Systematic and fundamental thinking on normative, or normatively relevant, questions is virtually absent in the highly influential constructivist studies of science and technology. This paper is an attempt at changing this situation. After reviewing and assessing the role of normativity and reflexivity, in so far as it has been acknowledged within constructivism, a number of `normative reflexions' are presented. Three general approaches—social constructivism, ethnography and actor-network theory—are analyzed in detail. The main themes of these analytical and critical reflexions are: `missing issues', `locality', `relativism', `the winner's perspective', and `technoscientific success'. It turns out that constructivist views concerning these themes have a number of normatively questionable consequences. These consequences can be avoided if certain constructivist assumptions, which are empirically unwarranted or unnecessary anyway, are rejected. Instead, some constructive alternatives are proposed for a social study of science and technology that is both empirically adequate and normatively satisfactory.

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