A science for peace
World Science Day for Peace and Development, celebrated on November 10, invites us to focus our attention on the possible meanings and contents of the relationship between science, society and peace.
If starting from the 600th century science opened up to society, freeing itself to a large extent from the paradigm of secrecy, it is above all in the last century that – following the creation and use of the atomic bomb – new, serious questions emerged on the relationship between science and society and on the contribution of science to the constitution of peaceful societies.
Of course, it is not an easy or univocal discussion, yet it is first and foremost the scientific community that is questioning itself. To a scientist like Edward Teller, considered the father of the atomic bomb, we can contrast Jozef Roblatt, one of the ten physicists who signed the 1955 Russell-Einstein Manifesto against the proliferation of atomic weapons, which will help create the theoretical basis for a series of other important treaties limiting and even prohibiting nuclear weapons – the latter, which came into force in 2021, has not been signed by states that possess atomic weapons or that are part of military alliances based on nuclear deterrence.
If exponents of science and philosophy have long been working towards the creation of a European cultural space, modern science is also witness to the need of human collaboration: science is a highly interconnected global activity that lends itself well to building bonds and bridges, underlining what unites human beings beyond nationalisms.
Some examples: CERN, the world's most important research laboratory in the field of particle physics, was founded in 1954 by twelve European countries, a good three years before the Treaty of Rome, the birth certificate of the great European family, as Giorgio Parisi proudly noted.
Subsequently, in 2017, the Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory for the Middle East (SESAME) was inaugurated in Jordan – imagined years ago by the Pakistani Abdus Salam – in which scientists from warring countries work not only together, but for a common project, which benefits everyone.
Recently, the 2024 UN General Assembly resolution, Pact for the Future, while recognizing that advances in knowledge, science, technology and innovation could lead to a breakthrough towards a better and more sustainable future for all, nevertheless warns: the choice is ours.
In this perspective, the Department of Human and Social Sciences, Cultural Heritage of the CNR has established the Science and Dialogue Laboratory for Peace, which interprets the will of the scientific community to put its studies at the service of dialogue for peace and which is based on the awareness that science as a whole is a driving force of knowledge and that dialogue is central to the processes of building peaceful societies.
Some of the foundations of scientific practice such as collaboration, sharing of ideas and critical reflection are precious tools for managing conflicts and for warding off the outbreak of hatred, the transformation of the enemy into a criminal and similar aberrations that Morin defines as war hysteria.
Peace, John Galtung, founder of peace studies, reminded us, is not only the absence of war; the concept of peace includes everything that, oriented towards the prevention of war, is aimed at building peaceful societies, which includes a variety of factors, including the promotion of social justice and labor policies, freedom of expression, respect for gender identities, education, the fight against poverty, human and minors' rights, sustainable development.
At the same time, in order for scientific innovation processes to be aligned with the values, needs and expectations of society, it is necessary for society as a whole to be able to understand and deal with the scope of scientific innovation in all its aspects, promoting a cultural emancipation that allows the transition from users of innovative products to people able to make informed choices regarding their individual and social sphere. The relationship between science and society cannot be based only on scientific information and dissemination, but on the conscious use of scientific knowledge in order to implement an informed exercise of citizenship rights, as Pietro Greco indicated.
For this reason, an attitude of trust in a science perceived not as magical, but profane, tangible is increasingly necessary; it is this that is related to educational and knowledge levels, as we have indicated in the CNR Report on the state of research in Italy (Valente, Tudisca, Pennacchiotti https://www.dsu.cnr.it/relazione-sulla-ricerca-e-linnovazione-in-italia/ ). This is a more mature vision of science, more closely linked to an active and proactive attitude on the part of civil society.
