What is Bacchus Institute of Science?
The Bacchus Institute of Science is a non-profit transdisciplinary transboundary research environment and a network for researchers interested in the sociology of science, research impact, and public outreach.
Why Bacchus?
The institute is named after the Roman god Bacchus to symbolize the intoxicating effect of ideology, reflecting how universities - as the custodial institutions of science - navigate the tension between promoting innovation and maintaining tradition, much like Bacchus embodies both the liberating and chaotic aspects of cultural transformation.
Research Program
Our research program aims to explore the dual role of universities as both conservative forces and perpetual innovators within Western culture. We investigate how universities maintain stability while also fostering new ideas and practices, as well as the tensions that arise between these two activities for the institution.
Problem Statement
Human beings often have conflicting goals, which can lead to social tensions. Resolving these conflicts through force or deceit can create long-term animosity. Here, an argument can be made that universities have traditionally acted as a non-violent means of conflict resolution by negotiating what innovations are acceptable, whilst also promoting constant self-reflection. The history of the instiution, is bound up in a commitment to truthfulness and academic freedom, and an emphasis on inclusivity, whilst serving the goals of wider society, which ultimately can create tensions.
Key Research Areas
Universities as Conservative Mechanisms
Objective: To understand how universities serve as spaces where individuals negotiate their goals and agendas.
Hypothesis: Universities reinforce accepted methods of conflict resolution and punish unacceptable ones to maintain social stability.
Method: Analyze the structural importance of various university activities (teaching, research, lobbying) and their resistance to change.
Negotiating Innovation
Objective: To explore how universities evaluate and label new ideas as beneficial or detrimental.
Hypothesis: Innovations are judged within universities' discursive spaces, where collective negotiation determines their acceptance.
Method: Examine case studies of innovations within universities to see how they were assessed and either supported or rejected.
Self-Reflection and Ethical Considerations
Objective: To investigate the ethical dimension of universities' decision-making processes.
Hypothesis: Universities' need for survival and relevance introduces an ethical component to how they label and accept innovations.
Method: Study the funding streams of universities and how they influence the institution's priorities and ethical considerations.
Evaluation, Management and Administrative processes
Objective: To investigate the long causal chain that internal and external university processes have upon the content of the produced knowledge.
Hypothesis: Forms, discplinary procedures, performance indicators etc. are technologies of deferring personal responsibility for judgments.
Method: To investigate how decision making is deferred and dissipated through procedural issues as to depersonalize and bureaucratize it.
Expected Outcomes
Conflict Resolution Mechanisms: Insight into how universities resolve conflicts through negotiation rather than force, maintaining social harmony.
Innovation Assessment: Understanding the process by which universities evaluate and support beneficial innovations.
Ethical Dimensions: Recognition of the ethical considerations in universities' decision-making processes, highlighting the need for constant self-reflection.
Conclusion
This research program will provide a comprehensive understanding of how universities balance their roles as conservators of tradition and engines of innovation. By examining their conflict resolution mechanisms, processes for evaluating innovations, and ethical decision making, we will gain insights into their enduring relevance and influences that shape Western culture.
