The Epistemic and Political Dimensions of the Life Sciences

Although the life sciences (including biology, medicine, psychology, and ecology) are often regarded as empirically rigorous and value-neutral, they rely on idealized models, metaphors, and implicit epistemic and metaphysical assumptions. These conceptual elements, while methodologically productive, raise important questions about the nature and scope of scientific knowledge, as well as the role of values in scientific practice. These questions are important because, beyond academia, the authority of the life sciences plays an increasingly central role in political and ethical decision-making, as seen in areas such as public health, environmental policy, and animal welfare.

This issue explores how the conceptual and methodological assumptions of the life sciences intersect with questions of normativity, power, and social organization, encouraging contributions that address questions such as:

• To what extent do idealized models, metaphors, and analogies shape the epistemic foundations of the life sciences, and can these sciences ever be fully value-neutral?
• How are key biological concepts such as health, disease, normality, adaptation, and sentience constructed, and what role do conceptual frameworks play in shaping biological ontology?
• How do scientific models and claims become embedded in political and ethical decision-making processes, particularly in domains such as public health and environmental governance?
• How do value judgments enter the production and application of scientific knowledge in the life sciences, and can descriptive and normative dimensions be clearly separated?
• In what ways do the epistemological and metaphysical assumptions of the life sciences shape social order, self-understanding, and relations of power, and why do these assumptions often remain implicit?

We welcome submissions from a wide range of theoretical and interdisciplinary perspectives, including:

• Philosophy of science (epistemology and methodology of the life sciences)
• Philosophy of biology and ontology (construction of biological categories such as health, disease, adaptation, species, and sentience)
• Ethics and bioethics (normative implications of scientific knowledge in medicine, public health, and animal welfare)
• Political philosophy and science policy (scientific expertise in democratic decision-making and governance through modelling and risk assessment)
• Sociology and social theory of science (science as a form of social power, production of norms, and shaping of subjectivity and institutions)

We invite interested researchers to submit their papers through the journal’s platform: https://revistas.uminho.pt/index.php/eps/about/submissions

Papers should not exceed 8,000 words, including footnotes and references, and must be submitted by March 30, 2027. 

For further information, interested researchers can contact the guest editor of this special issue: Giorgio Airoldi (CEPS, University of Minho)

For more information: gairoldi@elach.uminho.pt