Epistemic Objectivity and the Virtues
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.14394/filnau.2020.0013Keywords:
objectivity, theoretical virtue, empirical virtue, virtue epistemologyAbstract
The aim of this paper is to bring the resources of virtue epistemology to bear on the issue of the epistemic objectivity of science. A distinction is made between theoretical virtues, which may be possessed by scientific theories, and epistemic virtues, which may be exercised by individual scientists. A distinction is then made between ontological objectivity, objectivity of truth, and epistemic objectivity, the last being the principal focus of the paper. It is then noted that a role must be played by deliberative judgement in determining how to apply the theoretical virtues. It is suggested that such judgement may be virtuous in light of the exercise of the epistemic virtues. It is argued that the primary location of epistemic objectivity is the theoretical virtues, whereas the epistemic virtues of scientists play a subordinate role.
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Duhem P. (1954), The Aim and Structure of Physical Theory, tr. P. Weiner, Princeton: Princeton University Press [first published 1906].
Fairweather A. (2012), “The Epistemic Value of Good Sense,” Studies in History and Philosophy of Science 43, 139-146. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.shpsa.2011.11.003
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Kuhn T. S. (1977), “Objectivity, Value Judgment and Theory Choice” [in:] T. S. Kuhn, The Essential Tension, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 320-329.
Laudan L. (1977), Progress and its Problems, Berkeley: University of California Press.
Laudan L. (2004), “The Epistemic, the Cognitive, and the Social” [in:] Science, Values, and Objectivity, P. Machamer, G. Wolters (eds.), Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 14-23. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt5vkg7t.5
Lehrer K. (1990), Introduction to the Theory of Knowledge, London: Routledge.
McMullin E. (2008), “The Virtues of a Good Theory” [in:] The Routledge Companion to Philosophy of Science, S. Psillos, M. Curd (eds.), London–New York: Routledge, 498-508.
Paternotte C., Ivanova M. (2017), “Virtues and Vices in Scientific Practice,” Synthese 194, 1787-1807. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11229-016-1023-2
Sankey H. (2000), “Methodological Pluralism, Normative Naturalism and the Realist Aim of Science” [in:] R. Nola, H. Sankey (eds.), After Popper, Kuhn and Feyerabend: Recent Issues in Theories of Scientific Method, Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 211-229. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-3935-9_8
Sankey H. (2002), “Realism, Method and Truth” [in:] The Problem of Realism, M. Marsonet (ed.), Aldershot: Ashgate, 64-81. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315185507-4
Sankey H. (forthcoming), “Realism and the Epistemic Objectivity of Science,” Kriterion — Journal of Philosophy.
Stump D. (2007), “Pierre Duhem’s Virtue Epistemology,” Studies in History and Philosophy of Science 38, 149-159. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.shpsa.2006.12.010
Tulodziecki D. (2014), “Epistemic Virtues and the Success of Science” [in:] Virtue Epistemology Naturalized: Bridges Between Virtue Epistemology and Philosophy of Science, A. Fairweather (ed.), Cham: Springer International Publishing, 247-268. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-04672-3_15
van Fraassen B. (1980), The Scientific Image, Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/0198244274.001.0001
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Published
2020-10-31
How to Cite
Sankey, H. (2020). Epistemic Objectivity and the Virtues. The Philosophy of Science, 28(3), 5–23. https://doi.org/10.14394/filnau.2020.0013
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Filozofia Nauki/The Philosophy of Science | ISSN 1230-6894 | e-ISSN 2657-5868