Multiculturalism and cosmopolitanism in science

Abstract

Abstract The final chapter broadens the discussion about perspectival realism by considering the underlying tension between the particular multicultural situatedness of scientific perspectives and their collective cosmopolitan ability to contribute to scientific knowledge. Section 11.2 clarifies the role of multiculturalism in science by introducing the notion of ‘interlacing’ scientific perspectives and offering some normative pointers for it. Section 11.3 teases out two ways of understanding the situatedness of scientific perspectives with a particular focus on historical lineages, and Section 11.4 illustrates this with an example from the early history of magnetism. Section 11.5 warns against two varieties of epistemic injustice affecting scientific narratives: epistemic severing and epistemic trademarking. It discusses ‘reinstatement remedies’ required for these injustices. The argument goes from the value of multiculturalism for science to a non-classist, non-elitist form of scientific cosmopolitanism for which a final plea is made in Section 11.6.