Current Controversies in Values and Science asks ten philosophers to debate five questions (two philosophers per debate) that are driving contemporary work in this important area of philosophy of science.

Kevin C. Elliott is Associate Professor in Lyman Briggs College, the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, and the Department of Philosophy at Michigan State University. He is the author of Is a Little Pollution Good for You? Incorporating Societal Values in Environmental Research (2011) and A Tapestry of Values: An Introduction to Values in Science (2017), as well as a wide variety of journal articles and book chapters addressing issues in the philosophy of science and practical ethics.

Daniel Steel is Associate Professor at the W. Maurice Young Centre for Applied Ethics at the University of British Columbia. His research focuses on coupled ethical-epistemic issues in science, especially in relation to environmental and public health issues. He is the author of Philosophy and the Precautionary Principle: Science, Evidence, and Environmental Policy (2015) and Across the Boundaries: Extrapolation in Biology and Social Science (2008), as well as numerous articles in leading journals in the philosophy of science.

List of Contributors

Introduction: Values and Science: Current Controversies

Kevin C. Elliott and Daniel Steel

Part I - Epistemic Values: Can We Distinguish Epistemic from Non-Epistemic Values?

1 Distinguishing Between Cognitive and Social Values

Hugh Lacey

2 The Borderlands Between Epistemic and Non-Epistemic Values

Phyllis Rooney

Part II - Epistemic Priority: Must Science Be Committed to Prioritizing Epistemic over Non-Epistemic Values?

3 Qualified Epistemic Priority: Comparing Two Approaches to Values in Science

Daniel Steel

4 Values in Science: Against Epistemic Priority

Matthew J. Brown

Part III - Inductive Risk: Does the Argument from Inductive Risk Justify Incorporating Non-Epistemic Values in Scientific Reasoning?

5 Why Inductive Risk Requires Values in Science

Heather Douglas

6 Why the Argument from Inductive Risk Doesn't Justify Incorporating Non-Epistemic Values in Scientific Reasoning

Gregor Betz

Part IV - Diversity: Can Social Diversity Be Best Incorporated into Science by Adopting the Social Value Management Ideal?

7 Can Social Diversity Be Best Incorporated into Science by Adopting the Social Value Management Ideal?

Kristina Rolin

8 Feminism, Values, and the Bias Paradox: Why Value Management Is Not Sufficient

Kristen Intemann

Part V - Democracy: To Ensure That Scientific Institutions Serve Values of Social Justice and Democracy, Should Biomedical Research Be Socialized?

9 Socializing Medical Research

James Robert Brown

10 Meanwhile, Why Not Biomedical Capitalism?

Julian Reiss

Suggestions for Further Reading

Supplemental Guide to Further Controversies

Index