Heather Douglas – Science, Values, and Democracy

Heather Douglas is Associate Professor at the Department of Philosophy, University of Waterloo, Canada. She is the author of Science, Policy and the Value Free Ideal (University of Pittsburg Press, 2009).
For more information on her work, see : https://uwaterloo.ca/philosophy/people-profiles/heather-douglas

Tijd: Friday 17 May, 15:30-17:00
Plaats: VU Amsterdam, Hoofdgebouw, De Boelelaan 1105, room 14A-04 (14th floor)

Abstract:
Values, including social and ethical values, are generally recognized to be pervasive in science, and properly so. Values are needed to both shape the research agenda and to help decide what counts as sufficient evidence for a claim. What should we do about value-saturated science?  Is it still valuable in a pluralist democracy? And how should we democratize science given the presence of values in science? In this talk, I will first present reasons for why value-saturated science is still valuable in a democratic society.  Articulating and recognizing the source of the value of science (given its value saturation) provides insight into how it should function within democratic settings. In contrast to Kitcher’s well-ordered ideal, I argue science in a democracy should not be managed with respect to unperformable thought experiments.  Instead, we need to consider new social forms and practices, new social technologies, that can help make transparent value presuppositions and that can help make more democratic decisions about value-saturated science.  I will provide examples of such forms and examine their potential to help us solve the riddle of value-saturated science in democracy.