Science, values, and the value of science
Science, values, and the value of science
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DOI：
10.1086/392808
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发表时间：
2000-09-01
影响因子：
1.7
通讯作者：
Koertge, N
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Koertge, N
所谓科学战争的主角们对于价值观在科学中的作用以及科学的价值所在的看法存在最显着的差异。科学家和科学哲学家传统上认为科学的主要目标是解释和应用。只有认知价值才能影响解释性内容。社会和政治价值观影响着各种科学问题的优先顺序以及科学成果的应用方式。伦理考虑可能会影响人类和动物受试者的待遇以及科学结果的传播方式。最近对科学的批评声称，科学解释的内容反映了科学家及其资助者的主导意识形态和利益。现在，一些人不再呼吁更多的价值中立，而是敦促科学将解放受压迫的亚文化作为主要目标。进步的政治价值观不仅应该被允许提出所尝试的问题，而且还应该被用来限制所追求的答案的类型。既然科学知识是我们自己建构的，我们就应该对其内容负责。本文认为，解放主义科学的计划是不切实际的、弄巧成拙的。我们有充分的理由相信，关于哪种科学理论真正具有解放性，将会存在无法解决的政治争论。此外，正如安慰剂在被承认时就不再起作用一样，一门受政治考虑限制的科学也会失去其特殊的认知权威。
Protagonists in the so-called Science Wars differ most markedly in their views about the role of values in science and what makes science valuable. Scientists and philosophers of science have traditionally considered the principal aims of science to be explanation and application. Only cognitive values should influence what is taken to be explanatory. Social and political values affect the priority assigned to various scientific problems and the ways in which scientific results are applied. Ethical considerations may be brought to bear on the treatment of human and animal subjects, and the manner in which scientific results are communicated.Recent critiques of science allege that the content of scientific explanations reflects the dominant ideology and interests of scientists and their patrons. Instead of calling for more value neutrality, some now urge that science take as a principal aim the emancipation of oppressed subcultures. Not only should progressive political values be allowed to set the problems attempted, they also should be used to constrain the types of answers which are pursued. Since scientific knowledge is constructed by us, we should take responsibility for its content.This paper argues that the project of Emancipationist science is impractical and self-defeating. There is good reason to believe that there would be unresolvable political disputes concerning which kinds of scientific theories are truly emancipiatory. Furthermore, just as placebos cease to work when recognized as such, so would a science known to be constrained by political considerations lose its special epistemic authority.