Jerome Ravetz has been one of the UK’s foremost philosophers of science for more than 50 years. Here, he reflects on the troubles facing contemporary science. He argues that the roots of science’s crisis have been ignored for too long. Quality control has failed to keep pace with the growth of science.

...There are certain to be deeper interactions with the non-established forms of scientific practice, including citizen science, garage biology, Do It Yourself (DIY) science, the blogosphere and more generally the practices of the Extended Peer Community. Within established science, there are signs that those responsible for science advice, where the reality-testing is more immediate than within research, have learnt some important lessons. Another important development is the extension of the ‘peer community’ within science, seeing researchers as one sort of professional scientist among several (technicians, teachers, consultants, etc). This issue of professional responsibility is promoted by The Science Council in London. Quality and integrity are now discussed in many forums, and the whole situation is systematically reviewed in a new book, Science on the Verge.

None of these positive developments can guarantee the resolution of these new social problems of scientific knowledge, nor even the survival of science as we know it. If we include the science-based technologies of warfare, financial manipulation and environmental predation, the possibilities of civilisational catastrophe remain strong. But at least now the lid is off. We can collectively face our problems and contradictions, and disagree well.