Taking insights from the philosophy of science and technology, theories of participatory democracy and Critical Theory, the author tackles and explores how democratic participation in scientific research and technological innovation could be possible, as a deliberative means of improving the rational basis for the development of modern society.

This provocative and critical work addresses the question of why scientific realists and positivists consider experimental physics to be a natural and empirical science. Taking insights from contemporary science studies, continental philosophy, and the history of physics, this book describes and analyses the metaphysical presuppositions that underwrite the technological use of experimental apparatus and instruments to explore, model, and understand nature. By revealing this metaphysical foundation, the author questions whether experimental physics is a natural and empirical science at all.

This book questions the way that modern science and technology are considered able to liberate society from the erratic forces of nature. Modern science is implicated in a gamble on a technological society that will replace the natural world with a 'better' one. The author questions the rationality of this gamble and its implications for our lives.