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2 - What Is Science? (And Why Does This Matter?)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 February 2019

Esther Turnhout
Affiliation:
Wageningen Universiteit, The Netherlands
Willemijn Tuinstra
Affiliation:
Open Universiteit
Willem Halffman
Affiliation:
Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen
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Summary

This is a book about how environmental knowledge is used in policy and about how it is transformed to be useful for public problem solving. It is also about how such processes sometimes fail, or are based on misguided conceptions of science, of policy, or of public concerns about environmental matters. We will describe the problems environmental professionals encounter in the interaction between knowledge, policy, and society, on a practical, but also on a deeper, conceptual level. To do so, this book builds on the knowledge and experience of both social and natural scientists and tries to combine these insights, without reducing them to the lowest common denominator. This first chapter explains why and how the book addresses these issues.
Type
Chapter
Information
Environmental Expertise
Connecting Science, Policy and Society
, pp. 11 - 35
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2019

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