The essays in this volume all address in one way or another the subject of closure in science, technology, and public policy. In some of these papers, the primary focus is on a theoretical or conceptual question: What types of closure are there? In other papers, the emphasis is on a historical or sociological question: What forms of closure have been involved in the termination of historical and contemporary controversies involving science and technology? The aim of this concluding chapter is first, to comment on the conceptual and descriptive accounts offered by several of the authors whose essays appear in this volume. A second, related task is to offer a reply to the following normative question: What types of closure should occur or are appropriate for bringing an end to different types of controversies?

Before that normative question can be tackled properly, a systematic review of the papers would have to yield clear answers to this series of prior questions:

1. What are the different types of controversy for which closure has been sought or in which termination has occurred?

2. What forms of closure (resolution, termination) can be identified?

3. Which of those forms of closure have in fact occurred in particular historical and contemporary instances of controversy, as described in the answer to question 1?

4. What pattern, if any, defines closure reached in debates or disputes in each of the categories of controversy listed in answer to question 1?

5. Where such patterns can be identified, do they shed any light on what type of closure people have thought to be appropriate to different types of controversy?

6. […]