This article aims at discussing some aspects of the relationship between science, truth and belief. I will primarily focus on the scientific activity in the biological and medical sciences and how it relates to the notion of truth and... more
This article aims at discussing some aspects of the relationship between science, truth and belief. I will primarily focus on the scientific activity in the biological and medical sciences and how it relates to the notion of truth and belief and not discuss the relationship with specific religions. Science has specific methodologies to obtain knowledge. Philosophers have analyzed how scientific knowledge is acquired and have tried to identify its characteristics and to establish some general rules of how knowledge through science is gained. Radical theo- rists have disputed the value of the scientific method despite science’s indisputable successes. If science is a rational activity, it is not free from belief. Belief can have a positive and negative impact on the acquisition of scientific knowledge and the idea of human nature. These different issues will be discussed in depth in this article.
This work addresses biological explanations and aims to provide a philosophical account which brings together logical-procedural and historical-processual aspects when considering molecular pathways. It is argued that, having molecular... more
This work addresses biological explanations and aims to provide a philosophical account which brings together logical-procedural and historical-processual aspects when considering molecular pathways. It is argued that, having molecular features as explananda, a particular non-classical logical language-Zsyntaxcan be used to formally represent, in terms of logical theorems, types of molecular processes (pathways), and to grasp how we get from one molecular interaction to another, hence explaining why a given outcome occurs. Expressing types of molecular biology processes in terms of the Zsyntax language allows us to represent causal interactions by taking into account their context-sensitivity, and amounts to partly reviving the spirit of the so-called received view of explanationwhich aimed to capture scientific explanatory accounts in terms of their logical structure and their appealing to nomological relations. Such a partial revival is pursued by invoking here non-classical deductions and empirical generalisations, which are called to provide the epistemic norms to explain the behavior of molecular pathways.
Feminist theorists have shown that knowledge is embodied in ways that make a difference in science. Intemann properly endorses feminist standpoint theory over Longino's empiricism, insofar as the former better addresses embodiment. I... more
Feminist theorists have shown that knowledge is embodied in ways that make a difference in science. Intemann properly endorses feminist standpoint theory over Longino's empiricism, insofar as the former better addresses embodiment. I argue that a pragmatist analysis further improves standpoint theory. Pragmatism avoids the radical subjectivity that otherwise leaves us unable to account for our ability to share scientific knowledge across bodies of different kinds. It allows us to argue for the inclusion, not just of the knowledge produced from marginalized bodies, but of marginalized people themselves.
The present chapter addresses the emergence of new forms of governance and citizen participation in the context of certain biotechnologies. On the basis of three case studies, we have mapped different models of public participation in... more
The present chapter addresses the emergence of new forms of governance and citizen participation in the context of certain biotechnologies. On the basis of three case studies, we have mapped different models of public participation in health issues (especially health activism and Internet users, though not exclusively): identifying and analyzing actors, their mutual relationships (mainly those between “patients”/activists groups and the biomedical community), strategies and forms of participation, the exchange and circulation of “expert/lay” knowledge (and the role of the Internet in these processes), and the different activities and forms of knowledge production by “lay” citizen groups (or individuals). We draw special attention to the epistemic challenge resulting from these mixed forms of knowledge production derived from “experiential expertise”, “epistemic communities” and “evidence-based activism”. We detect “epistemic correctives”, demands regarding “undone science”, and hidden innovations in these types of citizen participation.
Fact/value holism has become commonplace in philosophy of science, especially in feminist literature. However, that facts are bearers of empirical content, while values are not, remains a firmly-held distinction. I support a more... more
Fact/value holism has become commonplace in philosophy of science, especially in feminist literature. However, that facts are bearers of empirical content, while values are not, remains a firmly-held distinction. I support a more thorough-going holism: both facts and values can function as empirical claims, related in a seamless, semantic web. I address a counterexample from Kourany (2010) where facts and values seem importantly discontinuous, namely, the simultaneous support by the Nazis of scientifically sound cancer research and morally unsound political policies. I conclude that even by the criteria available at the time, Nazi cancer research was empirically weak, and the weaknesses in their research are continuous with their moral failures in just the ways predicted by the holism I support.
This article aims at discussing some aspects of the relationship between science, truth and belief. I will primarily focus on the scientific activity in the biological and medical sciences and how it relates to the notion of truth and... more
This article aims at discussing some aspects of the relationship between science, truth and belief. I will primarily focus on the scientific activity in the biological and medical sciences and how it relates to the notion of truth and belief and not discuss the relationship with specific religions. Science has specific methodologies to obtain knowledge. Philosophers have analyzed how scientific knowledge is acquired and have tried to identify its characteristics and to establish some general rules of how knowledge through science is gained. Radical theorists have disputed the value of the scientific method despite science's indisputable successes. If science is a rational activity, it is not free from belief. Belief can have a positive and negative impact on the acquisition of scientific knowledge and the idea of human nature. These different issues will be discussed in depth in this article.
