Callender, Craig (2024) When Is It Okay to Ban Research (Funding)? [Preprint]

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Abstract

Fossil Free Research and other climate activist groups call for a ban on fossil fuel industry funding for climate research. The same call occurred two decades ago for tobacco industry funding and health research. The reasons for the proposed bans are that the funding can bias research and harm the public good. Opposition to bans claims that bans violate academic freedom. That view has mostly won the day. However, are research funding bans permissible, i.e., compatible with academic freedom, rightly understood?

Although there are compelling concerns on each side, once the brush is cleared away I think a tolerably clear path emerges for the conclusion that bans are permissible. Using an argument inspired by Mill, I’ll argue that one cannot use academic freedom to defend taking resources from agents of disinformation without thereby undermining the very grounds for academic freedom.

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Item Type:	Preprint
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID Callender, Craig ccallender@ucsd.edu
Keywords:	disinformation; misinformation; research funding; academic freedom; climate change;
Subjects:	General Issues > Ethical Issues General Issues > Science and Society General Issues > Science and Policy General Issues > Social Epistemology of Science General Issues > Values In Science
Depositing User:	Craig Callender
Date Deposited:	08 Oct 2024 11:58
Last Modified:	08 Oct 2024 11:58
Item ID:	24025
Subjects:	General Issues > Ethical Issues General Issues > Science and Society General Issues > Science and Policy General Issues > Social Epistemology of Science General Issues > Values In Science
Date:	October 2024
URI:	https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/24025

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