重谈科学与民主

Rethinking Science and Democracy

科学与民主是新文化运动的旗帜。随着时代的发展,它们却呈现出不容忽视的张力。为缓解这种张力,本文第一节追溯了柏拉图的超验科学/洞穴政治的规划,这是人们理解科学与政治的主导范式。第二节论证现代科学不是超验科学而是内在科学,后者代表着在世科学家的实践成就。第三节致力于反思政治观念,提出洞穴政治应让位于宇宙政治,将共存或公共世界的构成作为政治的核心议题。第四节指出科学总是已经置身于广场(agora),真理的专制应让位于"外交",从战争走向和平。最后的结论是,科学民主化是缓解张力的可能途径。

Science and democracy have always played a critical role since the Chinese New Culture Movement. However,their relation is becoming more tense in our technoscientific times. Part one will discuss the political project proposed by Plato,which acts as the paradigm of thinking for a long time. According to it science should be transcendent,while politics should be put into the cave. Part two will argue that modern sciences could be regarded as immanent science rather than transcendent science,because they are great achivements made by scientific practices. The aim of part three will be to reconstruct the concept of politics,proposing that poltics in cave should be replaced by cosmopolitics whose main issue is the constitution of our common world. Part four will point out that science is always located in agoras,which requires that we should go from war to peace. The concluding part will suggest that the democratization of science would be a possible way to renconcile science and democracy.