Boyer-Kassem, Thomas and Imbert, Cyrille (2015) Scientific collaboration: do two heads need to be more than twice better than one? [Preprint]

PDF (accepted in Philosophy of Science) Boyer-Kassem_Imbert_(forth)_Scientific_Collaboration_Do_two_Heads.pdf - Accepted Version Download (358kB)

Abstract

Epistemic accounts of scientific collaboration usually assume that, one way or another, two heads really are more than twice better than one. We show that this hypothesis is unduly strong. We present a deliberately crude model with unfavorable hypotheses. We show that, even then, when the priority rule is applied, large differences in successfulness can emerge from small differences in efficiency, with sometimes increasing marginal returns. We emphasize that success is sensitive to the structure of competing communities. Our results suggest that purely epistemic explanations of the efficiency of collaborations are less plausible but have much more powerful socio-epistemic versions.

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Item Type:	Preprint
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID Boyer-Kassem, Thomas thomas.boyer@univ-lorraine.fr Imbert, Cyrille cyrille.imbert@univ-lorraine.fr
Keywords:	Scientific collaboration; social epistemology; formal model; epistemic accounts; social accounts
Subjects:	General Issues > Explanation General Issues > Models and Idealization General Issues > Science and Society
Depositing User:	Dr. Thomas Boyer-Kassem
Date Deposited:	07 Jun 2015 14:00
Last Modified:	07 Jun 2015 14:00
Item ID:	11501
Subjects:	General Issues > Explanation General Issues > Models and Idealization General Issues > Science and Society
Date:	2015
URI:	https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/11501

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