Philosophy of Science Association - Event Information - Philosophy of Science Association
Event Name:
Values in Science and Political Philosophy
Event Type(s):
Event
Description:
A conference looking at the role of non-epistemic values in science through a political lens.
Event Date:
3/31/2022 - 4/2/2022
Event Time:
all day
Location:
Claremont McKenna College
888 Columbia Ave
Claremont, CA 91711
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888 Columbia Ave
Claremont, CA 91711
click here for Google Maps
click here for Mapquest
Details:
The past decade has seen an explosion of work from philosophers and other scholars of science on the many respects in which core aspects of scientific research involve non-epistemic values. Philosophers have argued that ethical, political, social, or personal values are needed when managing inductive risk, choosing and defining terms, setting model parameters, creating classification systems, selecting study endpoints, analyzing and summarizing data, and quantifying uncertainty.
Though debate continues concerning precisely which aspects of the scientific research process must or should be value-laden, more attention is now turning to how scientists should make the value judgments their work requires — how they should, for example, choose among alternative definitions of “Covid-caused death”, weigh the importance of different types of error in a climate model, or present the uncertainty in an economic forecast.
Philosophy gives us (at least) two different approaches to making or assessing such value judgments: one grounded in ethics or individual morality, the other grounded in political philosophy. This workshop aims to explore the second approach, bringing together political philosophers, philosophers of science, and other scholars interested in the role of non-epistemic values in science to ask what it would mean for scientists to make the value judgments their work requires in a way that is politically legitimate, or that would contribute to just political systems.
Confirmed speakers include: Naomi Oreskes (Harvard); Thomas Christiano (Arizona), Heather Douglas (Michigan State), Kevin Elliott (Michigan State), Alex Guerrero (Rutgers), Wendy Salkin (Stanford), Lucas Stanczyk (Harvard). To receive email updates about the conference, including registration info, sign up here: https://forms.gle/yPQQyrCmpU4TVrMo8.
A portion of the conference budget will be dedicated to offsetting carbon emissions associated with travel to the event. The organizers expect to be able to make a virtual attendance option available for those unable to travel to southern California. We anticipate, however, that all talks will be given in-person. To submit an abstract for this event (due October 1), see the associated CFP. This event is sponsored by the Gould Center for Humanistic Studies at Claremont McKenna College, with additional support from the American Council of Learned Societies Burkhardt Fellowship Program.
Though debate continues concerning precisely which aspects of the scientific research process must or should be value-laden, more attention is now turning to how scientists should make the value judgments their work requires — how they should, for example, choose among alternative definitions of “Covid-caused death”, weigh the importance of different types of error in a climate model, or present the uncertainty in an economic forecast.
Philosophy gives us (at least) two different approaches to making or assessing such value judgments: one grounded in ethics or individual morality, the other grounded in political philosophy. This workshop aims to explore the second approach, bringing together political philosophers, philosophers of science, and other scholars interested in the role of non-epistemic values in science to ask what it would mean for scientists to make the value judgments their work requires in a way that is politically legitimate, or that would contribute to just political systems.
Confirmed speakers include: Naomi Oreskes (Harvard); Thomas Christiano (Arizona), Heather Douglas (Michigan State), Kevin Elliott (Michigan State), Alex Guerrero (Rutgers), Wendy Salkin (Stanford), Lucas Stanczyk (Harvard). To receive email updates about the conference, including registration info, sign up here: https://forms.gle/yPQQyrCmpU4TVrMo8.
A portion of the conference budget will be dedicated to offsetting carbon emissions associated with travel to the event. The organizers expect to be able to make a virtual attendance option available for those unable to travel to southern California. We anticipate, however, that all talks will be given in-person. To submit an abstract for this event (due October 1), see the associated CFP. This event is sponsored by the Gould Center for Humanistic Studies at Claremont McKenna College, with additional support from the American Council of Learned Societies Burkhardt Fellowship Program.
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