Scientific activism and the idea of performativity

Abstract

The author analyzes the paradoxes of scientific activism from the standpoint of the concept of performativity. The author shows that the contradiction between the disinterested knowledge of the world and the interested action in society is generated by the traditional understanding of knowledge as a justified belief. The author discusses the so called performative conception of science, which gains many adherents in STS and replaces the standard concept of science. It is shown that when studying science as practice, the paradoxes of scientific activism are revised, because the rigid boundary between knowledge and action, science and values is removed.