Sciences Normes Démocratie (SND) was created in 2018 as a CNRS – Sorbonne University Mixed Research Unit identified under the code UMR8011. It is the result of the merger of FRE 3593 (Fédération de Recherche) Sciences, Normes, Décision (2013-2018) and EA 3559 (Equipe d’Accueil) Rationalités Contemporaines (created in 2002). It comprises a philosophy of science and knowledge group and a group of specialists in political and moral philosophy.

For doctoral supervision, the SND is attached to the Ecole Doctorale V / 433 « Concepts and languages ».

Initially located at the Maison de la Recherche of Université Paris IV, the laboratory now has an office on the Sorbonne site / Faculté des Lettres, accessible at 17 rue de Sorbonne, 75005 Paris, escalier E, Niveau G/3ème étage, Bureau G071. It is used on an ad hoc basis by lecturers, doctoral students and the administrator.

The members of SND set themselves the task of studying the practical conditions for the exercise of collective rationality, both in scientific communities and in political contexts, based on a wide range of themes linked to the place of science and technology in society, from the constitution, circulation and appropriation of scientific and technical information, to political decision-making and the conditions of its effectiveness.

Such a study draws on the skills of team members in philosophy of knowledge and science on the one hand, and political philosophy and ethics on the other. The close articulation between these two fields is reflected in the resolutely interdisciplinary research projects envisaged within the framework of the Sorbonne University Institutes: environmental transition, computing and data, behavioral sciences and robotics, bio-medical humanities. As the pivotal team of the unified university, SND is able to bring together researchers from different disciplines, while practicing interdisciplinary dialogue on a daily basis.