or "their attitude towards"

this is a rather subtle difference, maye, but "approach" is not quite the exact word, IMHO.

"il modo di porsi" (di una persona) is, quite literally, the position, the stance by which s/he ask to be recognized by others, and from which an approach may (or may not) be developped.

"approach" is a more active word: it is the result of a decision to do something and indicates "the way you do" things; "il modo di porsi" indicates rather the position you chose and the way you want to be seen by others - something that must be chosen before approaches can be considered.

e.g.: "I shan't have anything to do with it" - I want to remain shut in my ivory tower; this is a stance (un "modo di porsi") and not an approach.

This may be relevant for your text and for you author, because Italian scientist have always had an (implicit or explicit) stance towards the role of science in society, but only seldom they have gone for an active role. In fact, the lack of a systematic approach to such matters is a criticism often levelled to the Italian scientific community.