Una valutazione (della ricerca) dal volto umano: la missione impossibile di Andrea Bonaccorsi

In his recent book “La valutazione possibile - Teoria e pratica nel mondo della ricerca, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2015” Andrea Bonaccorsi, former member of board of directors of Italian “National Agency for the Evaluation of the University and Research Systems (ANVUR)”, argues in favor of governmental evaluation of scientific research. The main argument of Bonaccorsi is that the governmental evaluation of scientific research is an expression of Mertonian norms of science (communism, universalism, disinterestedness, organized skepticism). The thesis is weak for two reasons. a) Bonaccorsi misrepresents Merton’s thought. b) He neglects the relationship between formal legal rules and informal norms.