Business as Usual: On the Prospects of Normality in Scientific Research

In a series of influential papers composed together with Jerry Ravetz, Silvio Funtowicz attempts to sketch the methodology of a new type of science: Post-Normal Science. To state it right at the start: I’m not convinced. I strongly doubt that Funtowicz has managed to provide categories that are suitable for singling out a significant, new phenomenon. That is, I wish to make three claims: 1. The collection of properties he lists fails to capture the essential characteristics of policy-related research. 2. These properties do not affect the structure of science; no methodological issues are concerned here. 3. The suggested restrictions are by no means historically novel; rather, they have been part of science since its inception.1