Science and democracy : controversies and conflicts Foreword : like dwarfs on the shoulders of giants Giovanni Scarafile Introduction : the relationship between science and democracy : harmonic and confrontational conceptions Pierluigi Barrotta The dam project : who are the experts : a philosophical lesson from the Vajont disaster Pierluigi Barrotta and Eleonora Montuschi Rational decisions in a disagreement with experts Istvssn Danka Rethinking the notion of public : a pragmatist account Roberto Gronda The expert you are (not) : citizens experts and the limits of science communication Selene Arfini and Tommaso Bertolotti Decisions without scientists : two case studies about GM plants and invasive acacia in Hungary Anna Petschner Save the planet win the election : a paradox of science and democracy an Israeli perpetuum mobile and Donald Trump Aviram Sariel Science and the source of legitimacy in democratic regimes Oded Balaban The ethics of communication and the Terra Terra Project Giovanni Scarafile and Maria Elena Latino The political use of science : the historical case of Soviet cosmology Mauro Stenico The dialectical legacy of epigenetics Flavio Dabramo