Emancipatory policy sciences or interpretative revisionism: some thoughts on Douglas Torgerson’s The Policy Sciences of Harold Lasswell

Author ORCID Identifier

Hengameh Saberi: 0000-0002-9943-7290

Document Type

Review Essay

Publication Date

11-24-2024

Source Publication

Policy Sci 57, 925–930 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11077-024-09556-3

Keywords

Policy sciences; Lasswell; New Haven School; Naturalism

Abstract

In the Policy Sciences of Harold Lasswell, Douglas Torgerson asks an important question– whether the logic of policy sciences can inspire democratic hope for social betterment. His response is refreshing and psychoanalytically-informed optimism, whereas a jurispru-dential detour of the NHS’s legacy as the most important application of policy sciences in another discipline calls for agnosticism. Revisiting the application of policy sciences in international law suggests that the very logic of policy sciences, under the influence of a defective form of naturalism, disables its potential for inclusive democracy.

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