The Two Sages of Science-Advice in the UK During a Pandemic: A Study in Political Epistemology

Abstract

This thesis at the intersection of sociology and philosophy uses COVID-19 science-advice in the UK as a case study to explore the interactions between political, social, cultural, and economic factors on the one hand, and scientific knowledge production on the other. It focuses on the similarities and differences between two scientific advisory groups - SAGE and Independent SAGE - in relation to four meta-scientific questions: the end-users of science-advice, conceptions of what science-advice ought to be like, positions on what counts as evidence, and disciplinary compositions.

Building on work in the developing field of historical-critical political epistemology, it considers the origins, validity, and functions of these different positions. These findings are then brought into concert with literature from critical political economy to identify relationships between political-economic forms and the thought styles and concrete knowledge claims made by the groups, resulting in ideological characterisations of their knowledge production activities.