This volume explores the relationships between science and civil society. Historians discuss here the effects science and civil society have had on each other over time. Why did science become intertwined in "civil society"? How has science affected civil ideology and political legitimacy? How have scientists used science and politics to further their own ends? This volume makes no pronouncements about the role of civil society in politics, or the role of science in democracy. Instead, contributors examine how the interplay of science and civil society has legitimized the latter and naturalized its ideologies, whilst giving science its public role.