Patrick Slaney: Scientific Freedom and the Limits of the Administrative State

Date: 
Thu., Nov. 8, 2012, 5:00pm - , 6:30pm

Thursday, Nov. 8, 5:00-6:30pm, Buchanan Tower 1197
PATRICK SLANEY, UBC

In this talk I'll argue that public administration needs to be taken seriousl101 y as field concerned with the relationship between knowledge, power and democracy.  Specifically, I'll argue that administrative concerns were an important and neglected influence on the creation of post-war science institutions (such as the NSF and AEC), and that the analysis developed by public administration thinkers can enrich our understanding of the politics of post-war science, which tends to be dominated by Vannevar Bush and concerns about the capture of scientists by the national security state.

The STS series is supported by the UBC Situating Science Node.