The way we produce academic knowledge today is shaped by historically situated moral commitments and by collective responses to global coordination challenges. Implicit norms structure knowledge production: to point this out is not to critique science, but rather to reveal its contingencies and to explore alternative possibilities for what science could be.

This presentation draws on Lorraine Daston’s concept of the “moral economy of science”, developed in her classic work on the history of biology and physics. It is based on nine months of participant observation as Chief Editor of China Perspectives. The journal’s position within English-language scholarship on China – with its specific epistemological tensions, editorial practices, geopolitical stakes, and the new challenges raised by AI – provides rich material for investigating how contemporary moral economies operate in practice.

The presentation will be followed by a collective discussion on the future of our disciplines in the age of AI.

This event is part of the Events Series “The Humanities and Social Science Meet AI.”