Ragioni della scienza e ragioni politiche. Alcune considerazioni filosofiche

Scientific reasons and politic reasons. Some philosophical considerations. The contradictions and insecurities generated by the pandemic have put the “reasons” of science, the criteria of its objectivity and its relationship with politics back at the center of public discussion. The present contribution starts from Foucaultian reflection on epidemics in which the deep link between science and social space is very evident and leads to a reflection on the relationship between science and politics. In the first part, the essay dwells on the interweaving of medicine in the modern age; in the second part it analyses the debate that developed in the second half of the twentieth century about the social dimension of scientific knowledge; in the concluding part it analyses the link between science and politics, and more extensively between science and powers.