The Grand Challenges Blog
The Grand Challenges Blog
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The Grand Challenges Blog

Science and Ideology: call for contributions to a new Special Issue

28.04.2025

Author

The world is in profound trouble as mounting military conflicts and accelerating ecological crises set us up for a century of uncertainty. To find orientation in tumultuous times, in the past, society has looked up to one specific institution: science. The question remains, though, whether and how science is able to offer a different kind of guidance than ideology. Today, in times of socio-political and ecological crises, let alone the attacks on academic freedom and constitutional norms in the U.S., these questions need our attention more than ever.

In our new Special Issue on ‘Science and Ideology’, we invite you to offer your take on such questions that have permeated the philosophy of science since its inception. Can and should science be free from ideology? Past work has separated this discussion into two main perspectives: On the one hand, there are those who advocate for a science that is and should be ideologically neutral (e.g., Friedman 1953) and whose objective is to incrementally cumulate objective knowledge (e.g., Popper 1972). On the other hand, there are those claiming that science is not and cannot be ideologically neutral. This is because of normative assumptions and research programs that underlie scientific approaches (e.g., Lakatos 1970 or Funtowicz and Ravetz 1993), let alone epistemic reasons against the possibility of objective knowledge, warranting situated claims, that is, claims that acknowledge the positionality of the knower (e.g., Haraway 1988).

We invite you to contribute to this debate by developing your own perspective: What do you think? What is the place of ideology in science? What is the place of science in ideology?

Below, you can find a non-exhaustive list of topics that you may want to explore (500-1000 words). You can, of course, propose your own topic.

We are keen to hear your views!

Deadline to submit an abstract (150 words): We accept submissions on a running basis.

How to submit: Please follow our submission guidelines that are available here.

Categories Example questions/topics
The Philosophy of Science and Ideology
    • Popper versus Lakatos: Science as falsifiable doctrine or normative research program?

    • Paradigm shifts in science   

    • Post-normal age: science beyond mission-driven problem-solving
Sustainability science and ideology
    • Inclusion and exclusion criteria for ‘good’ science in the Anthropocene

    • Can or should sustainability science be apolitical?

    • Sustainability science in post-growth and degrowth scholarship

    • Speculative rigor versus formalism
Ideology in economic ideas
    • Neoliberalism

    • Marxism/anarchism

    • Imperialism/colonialism
The political economy of scientific research funding
    • Private-commercial interests in financing of scientific research

    • The demise of the research funding in the U.S. under Trump administration

    • Funding and ensuring independent and rigorous science in a multipolar world order
Identity, diversity, equity, and inclusion in science
    • The politicization of science through identity discourse

    • Scientific objectivity and the challenge of standpoint epistemology

  • Normative versus empirical approaches to diversity in science

Authors

Philipp Censkowsky, Robin Schimmelpfennig, Lilly Felber, Laurence Jeangros

Cornelissen, J. P., & Werner, M. 2025. What Are Mechanisms? Ways of Conceptualizing and Studying Causal Mechanisms. Organizational Research Methods, forthcoming.

George, G., Howard-Grenville, J., Joshi, A., & Tihanyi, L. 2016. Understanding and Tackling Societal Grand Challenges through Management Research. Academy of Management Journal, 59(6): 1880–1895.

Hanisch, M. 2024. Prescriptive Theorizing in Management Research: A New Impetus for Addressing Grand Challenges. Journal of Management Studies, 61(4): 1692–1716.

Horner, S., Cornelissen, J. P., & Zundel, M. 2024. Panacea or Dangerous Practice: A Counterpoint to Hanisch’s Argument for Prescriptive Theorizing. Journal of Management Studies, 61(4): 1717–1730.

Krautzberger, M., & Tuckermann, H. 2024. Navigating Both/And and Either/Or Approaches in Response to Paradoxical Demands: A meta-both/and approach. Organization Theory, 5(4).

Longino, H. E. 1990. Science as Social Knowledge: Values and Objectivity in Scientific Inquiry. Princeton University Press.

Muller, J. 2018. The Tyranny of Metrics. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

Oreskes, N. 2019. Why Trust Science? The University Center for Human Values series. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Rolin, K. 2017. Can Social Diversity Be Best Incorporated into Science by Adopting the Social Value Management Ideal? In K. C. Elliott & D. Steel (Eds.), Current Controversies in Values and Science: 113–129. Routledge.

Simon, H. A. 1964. On the Concept of Organizational Goal. Administrative Science Quarterly, 9(1): 1–22.

Swedberg, R. 2018. How to Use Max Weber’s Ideal Type in Sociological Analysis. Journal of Classical Sociology, 18(3): 181–196.

Weber, M. 1922. Der Sinn der ‘Wertfreiheit’ der soziologischen und ökonomischen Wissenschaften. In M. Weber (Ed.), Gesammelte Aufsätze zur Wissenschaftslehre: 451–502. Tübingen, DE: Mohr Siebeck Verlag.

The Grand Challenges Blog

Science and Ideology: call for contributions to a new Special Issue

28.04.2025

Author

The world is in profound trouble as mounting military conflicts and accelerating ecological crises set us up for a century of uncertainty. To find orientation in tumultuous times, in the past, society has looked up to one specific institution: science. The question remains, though, whether and how science is able to offer a different kind of guidance than ideology. Today, in times of socio-political and ecological crises, let alone the attacks on academic freedom and constitutional norms in the U.S., these questions need our attention more than ever.

In our new Special Issue on ‘Science and Ideology’, we invite you to offer your take on such questions that have permeated the philosophy of science since its inception. Can and should science be free from ideology? Past work has separated this discussion into two main perspectives: On the one hand, there are those who advocate for a science that is and should be ideologically neutral (e.g., Friedman 1953) and whose objective is to incrementally cumulate objective knowledge (e.g., Popper 1972). On the other hand, there are those claiming that science is not and cannot be ideologically neutral. This is because of normative assumptions and research programs that underlie scientific approaches (e.g., Lakatos 1970 or Funtowicz and Ravetz 1993), let alone epistemic reasons against the possibility of objective knowledge, warranting situated claims, that is, claims that acknowledge the positionality of the knower (e.g., Haraway 1988).

We invite you to contribute to this debate by developing your own perspective: What do you think? What is the place of ideology in science? What is the place of science in ideology?

Below, you can find a non-exhaustive list of topics that you may want to explore (500-1000 words). You can, of course, propose your own topic.

We are keen to hear your views!

Deadline to submit an abstract (150 words): We accept submissions on a running basis.

How to submit: Please follow our submission guidelines that are available here.

Categories Example questions/topics
The Philosophy of Science and Ideology
    • Popper versus Lakatos: Science as falsifiable doctrine or normative research program?

    • Paradigm shifts in science   

    • Post-normal age: science beyond mission-driven problem-solving
Sustainability science and ideology
    • Inclusion and exclusion criteria for ‘good’ science in the Anthropocene

    • Can or should sustainability science be apolitical?

    • Sustainability science in post-growth and degrowth scholarship

    • Speculative rigor versus formalism
Ideology in economic ideas
    • Neoliberalism

    • Marxism/anarchism

    • Imperialism/colonialism
The political economy of scientific research funding
    • Private-commercial interests in financing of scientific research

    • The demise of the research funding in the U.S. under Trump administration

    • Funding and ensuring independent and rigorous science in a multipolar world order
Identity, diversity, equity, and inclusion in science
    • The politicization of science through identity discourse

    • Scientific objectivity and the challenge of standpoint epistemology

  • Normative versus empirical approaches to diversity in science

Authors

Philipp Censkowsky, Robin Schimmelpfennig, Lilly Felber, Laurence Jeangros

References →

Cornelissen, J. P., & Werner, M. 2025. What Are Mechanisms? Ways of Conceptualizing and Studying Causal Mechanisms. Organizational Research Methods, forthcoming.

George, G., Howard-Grenville, J., Joshi, A., & Tihanyi, L. 2016. Understanding and Tackling Societal Grand Challenges through Management Research. Academy of Management Journal, 59(6): 1880–1895.

Hanisch, M. 2024. Prescriptive Theorizing in Management Research: A New Impetus for Addressing Grand Challenges. Journal of Management Studies, 61(4): 1692–1716.

Horner, S., Cornelissen, J. P., & Zundel, M. 2024. Panacea or Dangerous Practice: A Counterpoint to Hanisch’s Argument for Prescriptive Theorizing. Journal of Management Studies, 61(4): 1717–1730.

Krautzberger, M., & Tuckermann, H. 2024. Navigating Both/And and Either/Or Approaches in Response to Paradoxical Demands: A meta-both/and approach. Organization Theory, 5(4).

Longino, H. E. 1990. Science as Social Knowledge: Values and Objectivity in Scientific Inquiry. Princeton University Press.

Muller, J. 2018. The Tyranny of Metrics. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

Oreskes, N. 2019. Why Trust Science? The University Center for Human Values series. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Rolin, K. 2017. Can Social Diversity Be Best Incorporated into Science by Adopting the Social Value Management Ideal? In K. C. Elliott & D. Steel (Eds.), Current Controversies in Values and Science: 113–129. Routledge.

Simon, H. A. 1964. On the Concept of Organizational Goal. Administrative Science Quarterly, 9(1): 1–22.

Swedberg, R. 2018. How to Use Max Weber’s Ideal Type in Sociological Analysis. Journal of Classical Sociology, 18(3): 181–196.

Weber, M. 1922. Der Sinn der ‘Wertfreiheit’ der soziologischen und ökonomischen Wissenschaften. In M. Weber (Ed.), Gesammelte Aufsätze zur Wissenschaftslehre: 451–502. Tübingen, DE: Mohr Siebeck Verlag.