Abstract
Science is not a hot issue in debates about multiculturalism. Yet, has it not promoted the disappearance of valuable cultural diversity? Further questions will arise here. How after all are science and multiculturalism related? Does science require any diversity, cultural or other? What about the role of science in a desirable setting of intercultural co-existence and, conversely, what about the role of multiculturalism in science policy? I treat such questions, making use of relevant, both universalist and particularist (social-constructivist, feminist), views. I relate them to “resource arguments” and “identity arguments” for the preservation of cultures. I show how the views discussed often suffer from ambiguities of ‘culture’ and ‘multiculturalism’. I also point up and discuss harder evaluative and normative questions which they largely neglect.
