Welcome to a transdisciplinary seminar by COMMONS Academic Forum. We will address chemistry as “the impure science”. According to Bernadette Bensaude-Vincent & Jonathan Simon, the roots of this perception of chemistry are, on the one hand, the scientific hierarchy that places chemistry beneath physics, and, on the other hand, the close historical and contemporary ties between academic chemistry and chemical industries, which are often seen as unclean.

Content

This seminar aims to discuss and problematize both these assumptions. The first one – the scientific hierarchy – exposes both epistemological and ontological presumptions. 

• Is everything reducible to a more fundamental level of reality? 
• Should scientific procedures and frameworks be universal, thus uniting disciplines concerned with different levels of reality, or should each discipline operate according to its own standards?
• Do we, as Bensaude-Vincent and Simon argue, need a philosophy of chemistry?

The second assumption – the uncleanliness of chemical industry – concerns questions of institutional collaboration, scientific ethics and public trust. We will unfold and problematize the connections between science and industry. 

• What does it mean for a scientific field to be closely connected to industry? 
• How should ethical, financial and political aspects of industrial collaboration be handled within academia?

We will dedicate time for reading and listening to different perspectives on the topic, and then discuss together. No preparation needed.

Registration

Please register for this seminar no later than 8 April:

Registration link for the seminar 22 April

Hosts

The seminar is hosted by COMMONS - a centre for excellence at Lund University. Read an article about COMMONS here: 

COMMONS – A centre of excellence with a focus on the common ground | Internal Faculty of Science