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In:Science and Democracy: Controversies and conflicts
Edited by Pierluigi Barrotta and Giovanni Scarafile
[Controversies 13] 2018
► pp. 109–126

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Chapter 6
Save the planet, win the election

A paradox of science and democracy, an Israeli perpetuum mobile and Donald Trump

Published online: 23 May 2018
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https://doi.org/10.1075/cvs.13.08sar
Science and scientific institutions are not necessarily passive players in the power and manipulation games which constitute democratic elections. In this paper, I shall present a seeming paradox, in which a party well-aligned with science is vulnerable to attack which claims access to alternative and superior science. The argument is demonstrated by the Israeli elections of 1981, won by a party which presented the public with a Perpetuum Mobile, two days before the elections. My analysis, indebted to Hans Jonas’s model of interregnums of values and norms, seems to justify this maneuver and render it rational, in a sense restricted to election campaigns. The analysis was used to predict the victory of Donald Trump in the US elections of 2016.
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • Scientists and democratic politicians
  • Parties and elections
  • The Israeli elections of 1981
  • Meridor’s invention
  • A symbol of radical interregnum
  • Jonasian politics
  • Donald Trump, post-truths and alternative truths
  • In conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
References (19)
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