James made us an overview of the course. He said, if we really can explain and understand the
following, we 'for sure pass the exam': REVIEW: RISJORD CHs 2-8
Risjord Ch. 2
➢ Distinction epistemic and non-epistemic values
Epistemic:
- The decisions scientists have to make about their own models
- Refer to considerations in the evaluation of hypotheses and theories, e.g. precision, models
etc.
Non-epistemic
- Moral judgements, ideological views or religious beliefs part of the grounds that determine
the assumption or rejection of scientific claims
- Richard Rutner: argued that non-epistemic values are a necessary part of hypothesis testing
and theory choice
- Rudner points out that the choice of level for the p-value depends on the costs of being
mistaken. P-value in medicine is v high because great cost of being wrong
- If rudner’s argument is correct, then even the moderate thesis of value freedom is an
unattainable goal
➢ Distinction constitutive and contextual role of these values
Constitutive Values
- Are necessary for an activity, shape from the inside and an activity cannot go on without
commitment to constitutive values
- If deciding whether a hypothesis should be accepted or rejected is a core activity of science,
then the values that determine whether the hypothesis is acceptable are playing a constitutive
role
- Shape your research from within and necessary for conducting research
Contextual
- Shape research from the outside
- They are part of the environment, they may shape the activity but are not necessary to
conducting it
- They do not always undermine the objectivity of social scientific research, eg. researchers need
to get paid, Interests determine the direction of the beam, but not what we see when we look
-
➢ Fact – value distinction
- A strict-fact value distinction would require that descriptions have no evaluative
consequences on their own
, - If social science is to be value-neutral, then it must exclude not only all explicit evaluations,
but all that use thick concepts as well
- The very aspiration to be value-neutral is therefore itself a political or moral commitment -
Value-neutrality is the thesis that social scientific theories should describe facts, not make
policy recommentations. Feminist research goes against this
- By making these values explicit, critical theorists and feminists take on the project of
identifying and criticising the moral and political values that are implicit in existing theories -
Social scientific theories are always partly political, and therefire the evaluation of theory
should take the political dimensions of the theory into account
Fact - value entanglement can be investigated at different levels
1. The phase before the scientific research starts
2. The phase in which scientific research takes place
3. The phase after the scientific research has been completed
➢ ‘Objectivity’: three meanings
- To preserve objectivity, once the decision has been made to investigate a particular topic, only
scientific considerations (epistemic values) should govern the research
Sharon Crasnow’s analysis…
1. Objectivity as freedom from bias
- E.g. advertising is not
- So if social science cannot be impartial, the challenge is to control or limit the biasing
effects of non-epistemic values
2. Objectivity as intersubjectivity
- My feeling if hunger is subjective but my eating a sandwich is objective
- Something is intersubjective to the degree that it is open for critical scrutiny by more
than one person
- Science is taken to be objective to the degree that it is open for critical scrutiny by
more than one person
- Objectivity in the intersubjectivity sense is thought to be desirable because it is the
basis for reasoned engagement over scientific results and processes
3. Objectivity as reliability
- A method is reliable insofar as it provides results that are likely to be true - A method
might be intersubjective but unreliable, e.g. a defective recording device - In the
reliability sense, objectivity has to do with how well we trust our methods to be free from
error
➢ Moderate Thesis of Value Freedom
- Value freedom requires the exclusion of moral and political values, non-epistmeic values
, For this thesis:
- science is objective only when epistemic values are constitutive of scientific practice -
Non-epistemic values may only play a contextual role
Criticism
- Since all science occurs in some social context, one might argue, contextual values will
always have some influence on the core workings of scientific decision making. Counter
criticism
- As a practical matter, yes, moral and political values are always present. But, value freedom is
an ideal we should strive towards, moral and political values are not necessary for science and
thus the goal of objectivity requires minimising their influence
- Case USA census
The census determines the number of Representatives each state sends to the House of
Representatives, as well as the allocation of federal funding for education, law enforcement, and
similar enterprises.
Problems
- Difficult to count, what about those who move, or the homeless
- Problem of criteria, who is to be counted? People in comas, dual citizens, those in the army
that dont hold citizens, those that are in the process of becoming a citizen
- How are they counted? Traditionally door-to-door or mail questionnaires - Undercounts or
over counts, example of undercount 1990 census but unequal distribution of undercounts
The debate over which method is best turns partly on our willingness to tolerate particular risks of
error, politics sneaks in because the possible errors have different political consequences The issues
in census taking make clear the motivations for seeking a value free social science What values play
a role in the decisions about how to conduct the U.S. census, and what role are they playing
The dispute is about the process, the politicians are not cherry picking the results - The
considerations about was best for each political party were influencing methodology -
Political value influencing decisions about scientific methodology
- US census: the political considerations were used to support methodological virtues
Two potential consitutive roles for values in scientific practice
1. Moral and political values might influence the justification of theories or the confirmation of
hypotheses. This is the role the political values apparantly had in the arguments over U.S.
census methodology impartial
2. Moral and political values might appear in scientific practice as part of the content of a theory -
From of value freedom advocated by Max Weber: “it can never be the task of an
empirical science to provide binding norms and ideals from which directives for an
immediate practical activity can be derived”
following, we 'for sure pass the exam': REVIEW: RISJORD CHs 2-8
Risjord Ch. 2
➢ Distinction epistemic and non-epistemic values
Epistemic:
- The decisions scientists have to make about their own models
- Refer to considerations in the evaluation of hypotheses and theories, e.g. precision, models
etc.
Non-epistemic
- Moral judgements, ideological views or religious beliefs part of the grounds that determine
the assumption or rejection of scientific claims
- Richard Rutner: argued that non-epistemic values are a necessary part of hypothesis testing
and theory choice
- Rudner points out that the choice of level for the p-value depends on the costs of being
mistaken. P-value in medicine is v high because great cost of being wrong
- If rudner’s argument is correct, then even the moderate thesis of value freedom is an
unattainable goal
➢ Distinction constitutive and contextual role of these values
Constitutive Values
- Are necessary for an activity, shape from the inside and an activity cannot go on without
commitment to constitutive values
- If deciding whether a hypothesis should be accepted or rejected is a core activity of science,
then the values that determine whether the hypothesis is acceptable are playing a constitutive
role
- Shape your research from within and necessary for conducting research
Contextual
- Shape research from the outside
- They are part of the environment, they may shape the activity but are not necessary to
conducting it
- They do not always undermine the objectivity of social scientific research, eg. researchers need
to get paid, Interests determine the direction of the beam, but not what we see when we look
-
➢ Fact – value distinction
- A strict-fact value distinction would require that descriptions have no evaluative
consequences on their own
, - If social science is to be value-neutral, then it must exclude not only all explicit evaluations,
but all that use thick concepts as well
- The very aspiration to be value-neutral is therefore itself a political or moral commitment -
Value-neutrality is the thesis that social scientific theories should describe facts, not make
policy recommentations. Feminist research goes against this
- By making these values explicit, critical theorists and feminists take on the project of
identifying and criticising the moral and political values that are implicit in existing theories -
Social scientific theories are always partly political, and therefire the evaluation of theory
should take the political dimensions of the theory into account
Fact - value entanglement can be investigated at different levels
1. The phase before the scientific research starts
2. The phase in which scientific research takes place
3. The phase after the scientific research has been completed
➢ ‘Objectivity’: three meanings
- To preserve objectivity, once the decision has been made to investigate a particular topic, only
scientific considerations (epistemic values) should govern the research
Sharon Crasnow’s analysis…
1. Objectivity as freedom from bias
- E.g. advertising is not
- So if social science cannot be impartial, the challenge is to control or limit the biasing
effects of non-epistemic values
2. Objectivity as intersubjectivity
- My feeling if hunger is subjective but my eating a sandwich is objective
- Something is intersubjective to the degree that it is open for critical scrutiny by more
than one person
- Science is taken to be objective to the degree that it is open for critical scrutiny by
more than one person
- Objectivity in the intersubjectivity sense is thought to be desirable because it is the
basis for reasoned engagement over scientific results and processes
3. Objectivity as reliability
- A method is reliable insofar as it provides results that are likely to be true - A method
might be intersubjective but unreliable, e.g. a defective recording device - In the
reliability sense, objectivity has to do with how well we trust our methods to be free from
error
➢ Moderate Thesis of Value Freedom
- Value freedom requires the exclusion of moral and political values, non-epistmeic values
, For this thesis:
- science is objective only when epistemic values are constitutive of scientific practice -
Non-epistemic values may only play a contextual role
Criticism
- Since all science occurs in some social context, one might argue, contextual values will
always have some influence on the core workings of scientific decision making. Counter
criticism
- As a practical matter, yes, moral and political values are always present. But, value freedom is
an ideal we should strive towards, moral and political values are not necessary for science and
thus the goal of objectivity requires minimising their influence
- Case USA census
The census determines the number of Representatives each state sends to the House of
Representatives, as well as the allocation of federal funding for education, law enforcement, and
similar enterprises.
Problems
- Difficult to count, what about those who move, or the homeless
- Problem of criteria, who is to be counted? People in comas, dual citizens, those in the army
that dont hold citizens, those that are in the process of becoming a citizen
- How are they counted? Traditionally door-to-door or mail questionnaires - Undercounts or
over counts, example of undercount 1990 census but unequal distribution of undercounts
The debate over which method is best turns partly on our willingness to tolerate particular risks of
error, politics sneaks in because the possible errors have different political consequences The issues
in census taking make clear the motivations for seeking a value free social science What values play
a role in the decisions about how to conduct the U.S. census, and what role are they playing
The dispute is about the process, the politicians are not cherry picking the results - The
considerations about was best for each political party were influencing methodology -
Political value influencing decisions about scientific methodology
- US census: the political considerations were used to support methodological virtues
Two potential consitutive roles for values in scientific practice
1. Moral and political values might influence the justification of theories or the confirmation of
hypotheses. This is the role the political values apparantly had in the arguments over U.S.
census methodology impartial
2. Moral and political values might appear in scientific practice as part of the content of a theory -
From of value freedom advocated by Max Weber: “it can never be the task of an
empirical science to provide binding norms and ideals from which directives for an
immediate practical activity can be derived”
