PhilSci Archive

Values in science: What are values, anyway?

Elliott, Kevin and Korf, Rebecca (2024) Values in science: What are values, anyway? [Preprint]

[img] Text
EJPS 2025 Elliott Korf Preprint.pdf

Download (259kB)

Abstract

Although the philosophical literature on science and values has flourished in recent years, the central concept of “values” has remained ambiguous. This paper endeavors to clarify the nature of values as they are discussed in this literature and then highlights some of the major implications of this clarification. First, it elucidates four major concepts of values and discusses some of their strengths and weaknesses. Second, it clarifies the relationships between these concepts of values and a wide variety of related concepts that are sometimes used interchangeably in the philosophical literature. Third, it argues that this conceptual clarification reveals that much of the literature on science and values has discussed different concepts of values without making these differences clear. The paper illustrates this point by analyzing the different concepts of values at play in different arguments against the value-free ideal and in proposals for managing values. Understanding the literature on values in science as a patchwork of related discourses rather than a single discourse can help researchers more thoughtfully choose a concept of values that best fits their philosophical targets and goals, rather than conflating different discourses because of the common terminology of “values.”


Export/Citation: EndNote | BibTeX | Dublin Core | ASCII/Text Citation (Chicago) | HTML Citation | OpenURL
Social Networking:
Share |

Item Type: Preprint
Creators:
CreatorsEmailORCID
Elliott, Kevinkce@msu.edu0000-0003-3397-7849
Korf, Rebeccarkorf@uci.edu
Keywords: Values and science; values; value judgments; inductive risk; critical contextual empiricism; aims approach
Subjects: General Issues > Ethical Issues
General Issues > Science and Society
General Issues > Science and Policy
General Issues > Values In Science
Depositing User: Kevin Elliott
Date Deposited: 25 Sep 2024 11:36
Last Modified: 25 Sep 2024 11:36
Item ID: 23943
Subjects: General Issues > Ethical Issues
General Issues > Science and Society
General Issues > Science and Policy
General Issues > Values In Science
Date: 2024
URI: https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/23943

Monthly Views for the past 3 years

Monthly Downloads for the past 3 years

Plum Analytics

Actions (login required)

View Item View Item