ABSTRACT
In his paper, Michael Lynch critically examines recent trends in STS that encourage scholars to turn from the description of scientifi c practices to a normative engagement with science. Lynch recognizes the need to include normative perspectives in STS research, but criticizes the sort of generalist and essentialist theorizing that underwrites the normative account of expertise given by Collins and Evans. His own stance on the question of normativity is casuistic in spirit and dissolves the boundaries between actors’ and analysts’ (normative) categories.
