Value-Free Science: Ideals and Illusions?

by Harold Kincaid, John Dupre, Alison Wylie

Overview

It has long been thought that science is our best hope for realizing objective knowledge, but that, to deliver on this promise, it must be value free. Things are not so simple, however, as recent work in science studies makes clear. The contributors to this volume investigate where and how values are involved in science, and examine the implications of this involvement for ideals of objectivity.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780195308969
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	03/15/2007
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	8.52(w) x 5.82(h) x 1.01(d)

About the Author

Harold Kincaid is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Alabama.

John Dupré is Professor of Philosophy of Science and Director of the ESRC Centre for Genomics in Society at the University of Exeter.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Introduction

Part I Case Studies
Chapter 2. Fact and Value, John Dupré (University of Exeter)
Chapter 3. How Should Sociologists Study Social Problems? Michael Root (University of Minnesota)
Chapter 4. Coming to Terms with the Value(s) of Science: Insights from Feminist Science Scholarship, Lynn Hankinson Nelson and Alison Wylie (University of Washington)
Chapter 5. Evaluating Scientists, Brad Wray (SUNY Oswego)

Part II Evidence and Values
Chapter 6. Elliott Sober, Evidence and Value Freedom, Elliott Sober (University of Wisconsin)
Chapter 7. Rejecting the Ideal of Value Free Science, Heather Douglas (University of Tennessee)

Part III Values and General Philosophy of Science Perspectives
Chapter 8. Is Logical Empiricism Committed to the Ideal of Value Free Science? John Roberts (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
Chapter 9. Constructive Empiricism and the Role of Social Values in Science, Sherri Roush (Rice University)
Chapter 10. The Value Ladenness of Scientific Knowledge, Gerald Doppelt (University of California, San Diego)
Chapter 11. Contextualist Morals and Science, Harold Kincaid (University of Alabama at Birmingham)

Index

Editorial Reviews

"Historians of science whose work has led them to puzzle over their own and their historical actors' judgments of the relations between value and scientific fact will find much of value here."—Alan Richardson, Isis

"A valuable anthology of essays by contemporary philosophers."—Choice

"A well structured and informative introduction provides readers with background on the question of values in science.... Anyone who is interested in the question of values in science...will find Value-Free Science? a worthwhile read."—Lisa Gannett, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews

From the Publisher