Abstract

Historians of science have demonstrated the many ways in which science and politics are interrelated. The production of scientific knowledge, the organization of research and the application of science and technology are deeply intertwined with structures of power and governance. Climate science is a prime example to demonstrate the political qualities of science and the diversity of entanglements of science and politics. We argue that these entanglements have a wide range of meanings, such as scientists’ political agendas and manoeuvres, the policies of scientific and funding institutions, the uses of science by corporate or state actors, and the political agency of science and technology, as well as public debates about them. To better capture the diversity of these entanglements, we suggest developing more fine-grained conceptual taxonomies or categories. As a possible starting point for further differentiation, we introduce the concepts politics of science, science for policy and politics in science. Next, we illustrate this conceptual differentiation using the history of weather and climate science as an example. Finally, we provide a short summary of the contributions to this special issue and their addition to the state of knowledge regarding the epistemology and politics of climate science.

https://doi.org/10.1017/S000708742610209X