In the wake of the 2001 anthrax attacks in the US, States Parties to the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention started to discuss the potential malign application of biological research and technology. This thesis examines how this issue of dual-use has been developed, discussed, and how solutions have been proposed. In order to do so, the thesis follows a neopragmatist approach. As a neopragmatist methodology is largely underdeveloped, the thesis explores some of the key aspects of neopragmatism, specifically its openness to various methods and theories, by directly applying it to the topic. As a result of this approach, the thesis starts with exploratory empirical research, which follows Bruno Latour’s Actor Network Theory. This research reviews how the problem of dual-use has been discussed in three communities: politics and security, ethics, and science. One of the results is that dual-use has primarily been discussed in the security community while the other two were only marginally involved. The proposed solution to the problem by the security community is to place the burden of responsibility on the scientific community. The second part of the thesis then uses theory, Niklas Luhmann’s social systems theory and Martin Heidegger’s work on questioning technology, to critically challenge this solution developed in the security community. The thesis concludes by identifying approaches to help deal with the dual-use issue. It also examines how the adoption of a neopragmatist methodology has influenced and guided the thesis.

In the wake of the 2001 anthrax attacks in the US, States Parties to the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention started to discuss the potential malign application of biological research and technology. This thesis examines how this issue of dual-use has been developed, discussed, and how solutions have been proposed. In order to do so, the thesis follows a neopragmatist approach. As a neopragmatist methodology is largely underdeveloped, the thesis explores some of the key aspects of neopragmatism, specifically its openness to various methods and theories, by directly applying it to the topic. As a result of this approach, the thesis starts with exploratory empirical research, which follows Bruno Latour’s Actor Network Theory. This research reviews how the problem of dual-use has been discussed in three communities: politics and security, ethics, and science. One of the results is that dual-use has primarily been discussed in the security community while the other two were only marginally involved. The proposed solution to the problem by the security community is to place the burden of responsibility on the scientific community. The second part of the thesis then uses theory, Niklas Luhmann’s social systems theory and Martin Heidegger’s work on questioning technology, to critically challenge this solution developed in the security community. The thesis concludes by identifying approaches to help deal with the dual-use issue. It also examines how the adoption of a neopragmatist methodology has influenced and guided the thesis.

Le 26 février 1929, le philosophe américain John Dewey prononce une conférence devant un public d’étudiants et d’enseignants dans lequel il se prononce nettement en faveur de la mise en place d’une science de l’éducation, dont il développe les principales caractéristiques. La décennie qui suit va alors s’avérer d’une grande richesse intellectuelle et voir Dewey travailler ardemment à l’approfondissement et à l’élargissement de sa réflexion philosophique en direction de nouveaux champs et de nouvelles problématiques. Paradoxalement, cette période est également celle où son œuvre éducative semble la moins bien connue, en comparaison de ses premiers travaux sur le sujet, qui contribuèrent à sa renommée précoce sur le plan international. L’ambition du présent travail est donc d’étudier la réflexion éducative qu’il mène dans cette période, à la lumière du renouveau qu’elle apporte dans la compréhension globale de son œuvre. A travers la science de l’éducation, l’enjeu est alors d’observer en quoi la réflexion éducative de Dewey est susceptible de rejoindre ses théories du social et de la connaissance afin de proposer un schème d’analyse cohérent, à même de nous aider à faire face à l’inquiétude d’un monde en perpétuelle évolution. / On November 26th 1929, American philosopher John Dewey gave an address to an audience comprising students and teachers, in which occasion he advocated for the development of a Science of education and described its main features. The following decade is then one of a great intellectual wealth and sees Dewey working hard to broaden and deepen the range of his philosophical thought towards new fields and new problems to deal with. Surprisingly enough, this period also seems to be one concerning which his contribution to education appears to be of less importance, when compared to his first achievements in the field which brought him an early and international fame. The scope of our paper is accordingly to study the educational thinking entertained by Dewey at that time, at the dawn of the renewed light it sheds over the comprehensive significance of his work. Through a Science of education, our aim is then to analyze how Dewey’s educational thinking may connect to his theories of science and society in order to provide a consistent scheme of analysis, which may reveal itself helpful in facing the inquietude of a world in constant evolution.