Abstract
Certain segments of academic science such as biomedicine, genetics and pharmacology are being rapidly commercialized especially in the U.S. In this article, I outline the developments that led to this phenomenon and argue that it has a number of negative effects on various aspects of science, such as the choice of scientific problems and the direction of scientific research, the discovery-invention distinction, social norms and the function of science. Since these issues are the standard purview of the philosophy of science, I urge philosophers of science to pay more attention to the commercialization of academic science.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Bok D (2003) Universities in the market place. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ
Boyle J (1997) Shamans, software, and spleens. Harvard University Press, Cambridge
Brown JR (2008) Community of science (R). In: Carrier M, Howard D, Kourany J (eds) The challenge of the social and the pressure of practice: science and values revisited. University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh, pp 189–216
Davidson RA (1986) Source of funding and outcome of clinical trials. J Gen Int Med 1:155–158
Etzkowitz H, Webster A (1995) Science as intellectual property. In: Jasanoff S, Markle GE, Petersen JC, Pinch T (eds) Handbook of science and technology studies. Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA, pp 480–505
Greenberg DS (2001) Science, money, and politics. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL
Irzik G (2007) Commercialization of science in a neoliberal world. In: Buğra A, Ağartan K (eds) Reading Polanyi for the twenty-first century. Palgrave MacMillan, New York, pp 135–154
Jasanoff S (2005) Designs on nature. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ
Kenny M (1986) Biotechnology: the university-industrial complex. Yale University Press, New Haven, CT
Koertge N (2008) Expanding philosophy of science into the moral domain: response to Brown and Kourany. Philos Sci 75:779–785
Krimsky S (2004) Science in the private interest. Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham, MD
Magnus D, Kaplan A, McGee G (eds) (2002) Who owns life? Prometheus Books, Amherst
McSherry C (2001) Who owns academic work? Harvard University Press, Cambridge
Merton R (1973) The sociology of science. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL
Mirowski P, Sent E-M (2008) The commercialization of science and the response of STS. In: Edward JH, Amsterdamska O, Lynch M, Wajcman J (eds) The handbook of science and technology studies, 3rd edition. MIT, Cambridge, pp 635–689
Mitroff I (1974) Norms and counter-norms in a select group of the Apollo moon scientists: a case study of the ambivalence of scientists. Am Sociol Rev 39:579–595
Mulkay M (1976) Norms and ideology in science. Social Sci Inform 15:637–656
Radder H (ed) (forthcoming) The commodification of academic research: analyses, assessments, alternatives. University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh
Radder H (forthcoming) Mertonian values, scientific norms, and the commodification of academic research. In: Radder H (ed) The commodification of academic research: analyses, assessments, alternatives. University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh
Resnik D (2002) Discoveries, inventions, and gene patents. In: Magnus D, Caplan A, McGee G (eds) Who owns life? Prometheus Books, Amherst
Resnik D (2007) The price of truth. Oxford University Press, Oxford
Sismondo S (2004) An introduction to science and technology studies. Blackwell, Malden
Slaughter S, Leslie L (1997) Academic capitalism. The John Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, MD
World development report (1998) World Bank. Oxford University Press, New York
Acknowledgements
I acknowledge the support of the Turkish Academy of Sciences.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2009 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Irzik, G. (2009). Why Should Philosophers of Science Pay Attention to the Commercialization of Academic Science?. In: Suárez, M., Dorato, M., Rédei, M. (eds) EPSA Epistemology and Methodology of Science. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-3263-8_11
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-3263-8_11
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-90-481-3262-1
Online ISBN: 978-90-481-3263-8
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and LawPhilosophy and Religion (R0)