Volume 72, 2018
Social Philosophy
Cecilia Hidalgo
Pages 47-52
Knowledge Challenges Posed by Climate Variability
An emerging approach to research is gaining ground with the aim to produce usable knowledge, able to support adaptation decisions, provide straightforward estimates of uncertainty, and meet the needs of climate sensitive sectors. An approach that implies collaboration among researchers, stakeholders and outreach specialists, gathered to develop not only a scientific contribution, but to offer a renewed appreciation of the relationships between knowledge, nature and society. What are the epistemic features of this new approach to knowledge production? How can Philosophy of Science help to conceptualize these new trends of research practices now emerging and consolidating, a trend where social scientists are not only invited to participate but to play an essential role? This presentation1 distinguishes two main senses of the concept of co-production, both playing an important elucidative function in current philosophical accounts and revisions of the relationships between science and society, human and natural systems, triggered by these new trends. One focusing on the articulation of talents, perspectives and values needed to produce new types of knowledge, and the other on the intertwined transformations of identities, institutions, languages and discourses that characterize the workings of science and technology within society.