The role of philosophy of science in Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI): the case of nanomedicine

• Published in: Life sciences, society and policy Vol. 10; no. 1; p. 5
• Main Author: Oftedal, Gry
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 26-04-2014; Springer Nature B.V; BioMed Central Ltd
• Subjects: Biomedical research; ELSA and RRI; Engineering Ethics; Ethics; Nanotechnology; Philosophy of Science; Research Article; Science and Technology Studies; Social Sciences; Theory of Medicine/Bioethics; Ethics; Reduction; ELSA; Causation; Root cause; RRI; Philosophy of science; Nanomedicine
• ISSN: 2195-7819; 2195-7819
• DOI: 10.1186/s40504-014-0005-8

Research on ethical, legal and social aspects (ELSA) of life sciences and new technologies has mainly been focused on impacts and consequences, while the emerging framework of Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) focuses rather on increased involvement and reflexivity in research processes to foster science and technology that better answers the needs of society. I argue that philosophy of science should be a central feature of RRI and demonstrate how the philosophy of science can contribute in this sense. I show how investigating basic assumptions in research, here exemplified by reductive assumptions in causal modeling, can have important ethical and societal implications.