Customized Science? The Role of Religions and Worldviews in Scientific Contexts

The aim is to study the changing intellectual and social context of scientific activity in late modernity. A central analytical concept of the project is "customized science". Characteristic of such a science is that it is adapted to or tailored to suit a particular group of requirements, i.e. its needs, interests, values​​, political ideology or philosophy of life. What science is adapted to may vary. It might be to the interests of, for example, a particular social group, industry, political party, religious or anti-religious organization.

How do "customized science" change the public’s and scientists' own perception of what science is? Which (new) normative science perceptions will arise out of this? Can they be justified? If the notion of a value-neutral science is rejected or even ought to be rejected, how could a value-driven and worldview adapted science look like? How could it, if so, change our view of the natural sciences and social sciences including theology and the humanities in general?

Work in this project is ongoing. An international workshop was arranged in December 2012, and the outcome of it is an anthology in which scholars working in the program, together with a group of international scholars, have approached the subject matter from different perspectives and by using different methods. 

Participating researchers: Carl Reinhold Bråkenhielm, Bengt Gustafsson, Mikael Stenmark, Ulf Zackariasson