Science as a public good

We consider science as a public good. This means equating science with research for society’s benefit. In so doing we open up a number of other questions such as: is society sufficiently homogenous for benefits to be universal? Who is qualified to determine what constitutes a benefit and which benefits are worthy of being pursued (Roberts et al. 2020)?

In concluding this section we draw attention to another aspect which again is around the idea of science as a public good. In 1994, Pogge developed an institutional global theory of justice, based on the wealth gap between rich and poor which was, and still is, causing structural injustices. Pogge’s theory ascribes a moral responsibility of the global rich at least not to harm (Breuer et al. 2019). We will look at the idea of doing no harm to the environment and to people, and moving beyond that to making positive change, in section five on the SDGs.