PHI 32 Final Study Guide
5 ways Longino says that contextual values can influence science:
- Practices: Influencing with observational, experimental, and mathematical methods are used. - Questions: which are asked, and which are ignored. - Data: how it gets described or what gets selected Specific assumptions: facilitating inferences in specific areas of inquiry - Global assumptions: framework assumptions that determine the character of research in an entire field.
Longing's taxonomy of science-value interactions
- Practices: contextual values influence the practice of science, which can affect its epistemic integrity --> what kind of knowledge/understanding we get. - Questions: contextual values influence which are asked, and which are ignored --> what specifically are you going to study data: contextual values determine the background of what gets selected --> which data you are using. specific assumptions: contextual values determine the background assumptions facilitating inferences from data to conclusions in specific areas of inquiry --> scientists does research and find certain data, certain value judgements that motivated background assumptions developed. Global assumptions: contextual values help to form the framework assumptions that determine the character of research in an entire field --> a lot of science today, an assumption is we should not let our research be guided by different views = copernican revolution.
Longino's view about what makes science objective
- Science becomes objective when it is seen as a social practice - The objectivity of science is ensured by the fact that science is a social phenomenon, a practice engaged in by parties that have competing beliefs and that must reach some agreement for conclusions to count as knowledge. (i.e. thinking of scientific disciplines as social enterprises) - All members of the enterprise depend on each other to to one conclusion.
Two senses in which science is thought to provide us with a view that the world that is objective?
- View provided by science is an accurate description of the facts of the natural world and their relations with each other. - The view provided by science is achieved by reliance upon nonarbtrary and non-subjective criteria for developing, accepting, and rejecting the hypothesis that make up the view.
According to Kitcher, when has well-ordered science been achieved?
- When there are institutions governing the practice of inquiry within a society that invariably leads to investigators representative of the distribution in society.
More externalist model/value interactions and when they occur
1. At point where we are deciding which research gets funds. 2. At the point where scientists are concerned about conducting their research ethically. 3. Use of science for technology and policy.
3 stages in ideal inquiry according to Kitcher
1. Decide how to divide the resources to projects 2. Pursue those projects within moral restrain 3. Using the results from these projects to apply them practically
What are the two contexts of decisions that judgements shouldn't enter?
1. Formulation of projects for scientific inquiry 2. Appraisal of evidence for conclusion.
Does Kitcher think those represented in his procedure of ideal deliberation should be limited to only those citizens within society that will fund and take on the research?
- No, he thinks that viewpoints representatives of humanity as a whole should be included in deliberation.
Four assumptions Longino isolates that are presupposed in studies of innate mathematical ability:
- There's only 1 form in which math ability is expressed - That form is expressed in performance on standardized tests - The context of a problem has no bearing on the formal properties of a problem - Appropriate measures of a mathematical education are the amount of time spent in classes.
Two sense in which science is thought to provide us with a view that the world that is objective?
- View provided by science is an accurate description of the facts of the natural world and their relations with each other. - The view provided by science is achieved by reliance upon non arbitrary and non-subjective criteria for developing, accepting, and rejecting the hypothesis that make up the view.
Constitutive values
Generated from an understanding of the goals of science
Kitcher's view about the myth of purity
Gesturing at the absence of any practical intent is enough to isolate a branch of inquiry from moral, social, and political critique.
Who started that guesses are only accepted when they pass critical scrutiny?
Hempel
Contextual values
Those that belong to the social and cultural environment in which science is done.
Longinos opinion of the two shifts that can allow us t see that science may be subjective:
- Focusing on science as a practice - Recognizing that science is a social phenomenon
How does Longino distinguish political equality?
- Formal equality of access to the formal decision-making institutions of a community, nation, or state.
Kitcher's concerns about the way research actually proceeds (its divergence from the ideal of well-ordered science)
- Inadequate representation including various minorities which aren't represented properly - The influence of untutored preferences of those outside of science leads to neglect of problems of real epistemic significance, an objection typically raised by scientists - That the values professed by the champions of some project would actually be better served by some other assignment of resources.
Three main concerns Kitcher raises about the way research agendas are actually set and how scientific results are applied (it's divergence from the ideal of well-ordered science)
- Inadequate representation including various minorities which aren't represented properly - The influence of untutored preferences of those outside of science leads to neglect of problems of real epistemic significance, an objection typically raised by scientists. - That the values of professed by the champions of some project would be better served by some ofter assignment of resources.
Longing's view on social equality
- Individuals association with groups with same social status. - Having weights on one's communities, but also in part with equal entitlements to a societies resources
Who makes the decisions in an ideal inquiry?
- Internal elitism: scientists make the decisions - External elitism: scientists and privileged group of outsiders --> how Kitcher says it is actually done. - Vulgar democracy: ruled by majority vote. - Enlightened democracy (Kitcher's favorite - well informed individuals making decisions).
The assumption of sexual dimorphism
Two ways humans can be a sex are anatomical/behavioral.
Vulgar democracy
Unconstrained majority ruled by untutored citizens. Kitchen means the rule of uneducated citizens are allowed to have a say on issues that they do not know about.
Well-ordered science
Achieved according to Kitcher when the specifications of problems pursued are endorsed in an ideal conversation and embodying all human points of view in mutual engagements. Kitchen thinks well-ordered sciences are ambitious but not achievable, ultimately too many issues to deal with continuously for a well-ordered science.
sex differences
Ankle Ehrdandt's research: - Behavioral issues on sexes - Level of aggression with increased testosterone - Correlation to causation
The examples Longino uses to illustrate science-value interactions
Birth control
Context of justification
Constituted by the circumstances in which its acceptability is determined.
Context of discovery
Constituted by the circumstances surrounding a hypothesis in formulation.
Longino's distinction between constitutive and contextual values:
Constitutives are generated from understanding of the goals of science. - Values: accuracy, fruitfulness, scope, simplicity, and consistency Contextual: belongs to the social and cultural environment in which science is done. - Values: social, personal, cultural
Kitcher's distinction between epistemic and practical significance
Epistemic: Knowledge truth Practical: Practical application.
Kitchen also states that the myth of purity is the claim that..
Gesturing at the absence of any practical intent is enough to isolate a branch of inquiry from social, political, or moral critique.
Value-free ideal of science
Idea that science is free of personal opinions, values, etc. Instead, it is focused and driven for the science and for the truth (Kitcher's first chapter of "myth of purity."
The view that values are "external" to science
Is related to the scientific faithful? (moral, political, and religious judgements should not enter into two important contexts of decision: the formulation of projects for scientific inquiry and the appraisal of evidence for conclusions.
Longino's contextual empiricism
It is empiricist in treating experience as the basis of knowledge claims in the sciences. It is contextual in its insistence on the relevance of context in the construction of knowledge.
Aspects of society on which scientific research may have implications according to Longino
Public (governmental) policies Informal policies (ex: medical, educational, and social welfare practices) Cultural ideals Social values
How does Kitcher undermine the distinction of pure science vs. technology?
Pure science is made to seek significant truths that can support practical interests. Researchers won't just have epistemic aims. Epistemic: degree of validation or knowledge
How might someone distinguish the aims of pure science from that of technology?
Pure science is to find out truths while technology is to solve practical problems
How might someone distinguish the aims of pure science that of technology?
Pure science is to find out truths while technology is to solve practical problems.
What is the third sort of conceptual criticism of scientific result that which Longino sees as the crucial for the problem of objectivity?
Questions the relevance of evidence presented in support of a hypothesis.
What is the third sort of conceptual criticism result that which Longino sees as crucial for the problem of objectivity?
Questions the relevance of evidence presented in support of a hypothesis.
Biological determinism
Refers to the idea that all human behavior is innate, determined by genes, brain size, or other biological attributes. The theory stands in contrast to the notion that human behavior is determined by culture or other social forces.
Traditional views about the meaning of scientific objectivity
Science that accurately depicts the facts of the natural world and of their relationship with each other. Science in which theories are arrived at using impartial and non-arbitrary criteria for developing, accepting, and rejecting the hypothesis that make up the view, rather than wishes about how things ought to be. *If science is objective in the first sense then it will also be objective in the second sense.
T/F: Longino believes it is the possibility of intersubjective criticism that permits objectivity in spite of the context dependence of evidential reasoning
TRUE
How does Kitcher argue the values are relevant even to the pursuit of projects in theoretical particle physics?
The fact that researchers are pursuing this project, implies a judgement about the relative value of answering these questions rather than others. - dedication finite resources from it.
Myth of purity
There is a straightforward distinction between applied and pure science and "basic research" and technology.
Why does kitcher bring up Dolly the cloned sheep?
To show how the epistemic and practical significance of research can be interwoven
Kitcher's examples to illustrate science is subject to moral constraints Example that Kitcher used to argue that even the scientific faithful: don't think scientific research is completely free of moral constraints?
Tuskegee syphilis study
Does Kitcher believe that moral, social, and political values figure in judgements about which scientific projects are significant?
Yes
