| Mission |
The new mission of Wageningen UR comprises the responsible production and distribution of sufficient, high quality agricultural products, the careful managementof soil, water and air and the harmonious utilisation of the various functions of the green space. The future research programme of the chair group is directly connected to the mission of the University. The three central research themes of Wageningen University and Research Centre are studied from an ethical, cognitive and social philosophical point of view. From a cognitive point of view we are interested in epistemological questions like the validity claims of knowledge and technology, the relationship between science and technology and the relationship between technologies and their socio-economic embedding. From an ethical point of view we are analysing the implications of sustainability, pluralism and globalisation on food production systems and the multi functional utilisation of 'green space', i.e. rural areas. Problems of quality, norms and values pervade those issues: the quality of food and the quality of green space are hot societal issues as well. In connection with this point of view, we are studying from a social philosophical perspective the political processes that are shaping these areas and are shaped by them. Especially the public sphere, citizen-consumer relationships and new forms of policies and management are being studied. Last, but not least, on a more abstract level, we are interested in the implications for applied philosophy and philosophy in general when these problems are taken philosophical seriously indeed. |
