Post-normal science

Jerome Ravetz and Silvio Funtowicz, circa 1988, at Sheffield

Post-normal science (PNS) was developed in the 1990s by Silvio Funtowicz and Jerome R. Ravetz.^[1]^[2]^[3] It is a problem-solving strategy appropriate when "facts [are] uncertain, values in dispute, stakes high and decisions urgent", conditions often present in policy-relevant research. In those situations, PNS recommends suspending temporarily the traditional scientific ideal of truth, concentrating on quality as assessed by internal and extended peer communities.^[1]^[4]

PNS can be considered as complementing the styles of analysis based on risk and cost-benefit analysis prevailing at that time and integrating concepts of a new critical science developed in previous works by the same authors.^[5]^[6]

PNS is not a new scientific method following Aristotle and Bacon, a new paradigm in the Kuhnian sense, or an attempt to reach a new ‘normal’. It is instead, a set of insights to guide actionable and robust knowledge production for policy decision making and action in challenges like pandemics, ecosystems collapse, biodiversity loss and, in general, sustainability transitions.^[7]^[8]

^ ^a ^b Funtowicz, S. O. and Ravetz, J. R., 1991. "A New Scientific Methodology for Global Environmental Issues", in Costanza, R. (ed.), Ecological Economics: The Science and Management of Sustainability: 137–152. New York: Columbia University Press.
^ Funtowicz, S. O. and Ravetz, J. R., 1992. "Three types of risk assessment and the emergence of postnormal science", in Krimsky, S. and Golding, D. (eds.), Social theories of risk: 251–273. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood.
^ Funtowicz, Silvio O.; Ravetz, Jerome R. (September 1993). "Science for the post-normal age". Futures. 25 (7): 739–755. doi:10.1016/0016-3287(93)90022-L. S2CID 204321566.
^ EJOLT. (2023). EJAtlas | Mapping Environmental Justice. Environmental Justice Atlas. https://ejatlas.org/
^ Funtowicz, S. and Ravetz, J., 1990. Uncertainty and Quality in Science for Policy. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers.^{[page needed]}
^ Ravetz, J. R., 1971. Scientific Knowledge and its Social Problems. Oxford University Press.^{[page needed]}
^ Funtowicz, S. and Ravetz, J., "Post-normal science", in Companion to Environmental Studies, Edited ByNoel Castree, Mike Hulme, James D. Proctor, 2018, Routledge.
^ Strand, R., "Post-Normal Science", in Routledge Handbook of Ecological Economics, Edited By Clive L. Spash, 2017, Routledge.

[PNS1-1] Funtowicz, S. O. and Ravetz, J. R., 1991. "A New Scientific Methodology for Global Environmental Issues", in Costanza, R. (ed.), Ecological Economics: The Science and Management of Sustainability: 137–152. New York: Columbia University Press.

[PNS2-2] Funtowicz, S. O. and Ravetz, J. R., 1992. "Three types of risk assessment and the emergence of postnormal science", in Krimsky, S. and Golding, D. (eds.), Social theories of risk: 251–273. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood.

[PNS3-3] Funtowicz, Silvio O.; Ravetz, Jerome R. (September 1993). "Science for the post-normal age". Futures. 25 (7): 739–755. doi:10.1016/0016-3287(93)90022-L. S2CID 204321566.

[MartinezA-4] EJOLT. (2023). EJAtlas | Mapping Environmental Justice. Environmental Justice Atlas. https://ejatlas.org/

[UQSP-5] Funtowicz, S. and Ravetz, J., 1990. Uncertainty and Quality in Science for Policy. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers.^{[page needed]}

[SK_1971-6] Ravetz, J. R., 1971. Scientific Knowledge and its Social Problems. Oxford University Press.^{[page needed]}

[Companion-7] Funtowicz, S. and Ravetz, J., "Post-normal science", in Companion to Environmental Studies, Edited ByNoel Castree, Mike Hulme, James D. Proctor, 2018, Routledge.

[Strand-8] Strand, R., "Post-Normal Science", in Routledge Handbook of Ecological Economics, Edited By Clive L. Spash, 2017, Routledge.

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