[MD] Science and Values

[MarshaV]

Hi Arlo,   
 
It's a very fair article. Thanks for posting it.   
 
Marsha
 
 
 
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Arlo Bensinger" <ajb102 at psu.edu>
To: <moq_discuss at moqtalk.org>
Sent: Monday, August 04, 2008 11:13 AM
Subject: [MD] Science and Values


> All,
> 
> Stumbled on an interesting paper. "Values in Science" by Douglas 
> Allchin. This struck some MOQ chords with me.
> 
> http://www1.umn.edu/ships/ethics/values.htm
> 
> "ABSTRACT. Values intersect with science in three primary ways. 
> First, there are values, particularly epistemic values, which guide 
> scientific research itself. Second, the scientific enterprise is 
> always embedded in some particular culture and values enter science 
> through its individual practitioners, whether consciously or not. 
> Finally, values emerge from science, both as a product and process, 
> and may be redistributed more broadly in the culture or society. 
> Also, scientific discoveries may pose new social challenges about 
> values, though the values themselves may be conventional. Several 
> questions help guide disciplined inquiry into ethics and values."
> 
> Below is the short introduction, the article is also concise for 
> those wishing a short but enjoyable read.
> 
> "A fundamental feature of science, as conceived by most scientists, 
> is that it deals with facts, not values. Further, science is 
> objective, while values are not. These benchmarks can offer great 
> comfort to scientists, who often see themselves as working in the 
> privileged domain of certain and permanent knowledge. Such views of 
> science are also closely allied in the public sphere with the 
> authority of scientists and the powerful imprimatur of evidence as 
> "scientific". Recently, however, sociologists of science, among 
> others, have challenged the notion of science as value-free and 
> thereby raised questions--especially important for emerging 
> scientists--about the authority of science and its methods.
> 
> The popular conceptions--both that science is value-free and that 
> objectivity is best exemplified by scientific fact--are overstated 
> and misleading. This does not oblige us, however, to abandon science 
> or objectivity, or to embrace an uneasy relativism. First, science 
> does express a wealth of epistemic values and inevitably incorporates 
> cultural values in practice. But this need not be a threat: some 
> values in science govern how we regulate the potentially biasing 
> effect of other values in producing reliable knowledge. Indeed, a 
> diversity of values promotes more robust knowledge where they 
> intersect. Second, values can be equally objective when they require 
> communal justification and must thereby be based on generally 
> accepted principles. In what follows, I survey broadly the relation 
> of science and values, sample important recent findings in the 
> history, philosophy and sociology of science, and suggest generally 
> how to address these issues (this essay is adapted from Allchin, 1998)."
> 
> Arlo
> 
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