Article ID: CBB110063225

Defending a Risk Account of Scientific Objectivity (2020)

unapi

When discussing scientific objectivity, many philosophers of science have recently focused on accounts that can be applied in practice when assessing the objectivity of something. It has become clear that in different contexts, objectivity is realized in different ways, and the many senses of objectivity recognized in the recent literature seem to be conceptually distinct. I argue that these diverse ‘applicable’ senses of scientific objectivity have more in common than has thus far been recognized. I combine arguments from philosophical discussions of trust, from negative accounts of objectivity, and from the recent literature on epistemic risks. When we call X objective, we endorse it: we say that we rely on X, and that others should do so too. But the word ‘objective’ is reserved for a specific type of reliance: it is based on the belief that important epistemic risks arising from our imperfections as epistemic agents have been effectively averted. All the positive senses of objectivity identify either some risk of this type, or some efficient strategy for averting one or more such risks. 1.  Introduction2.  Applicable Notions of Objectivity3.  Reliance Instead of Trust4.  Epistemic Risks Arising from Our Imperfections as Epistemic Agents Rather Than Subjectivity5.  The Risk Account of Scientific Objectivity6.  Is This Useful?7.  Conclusion

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Authors & Contributors
Agazzi, Evandro
Buzzoni, Marco
Cardellini, Liberato
Chang, Hasok
Conrad, Erich Charles
Debru, Claude
Journals
Configurations: A Journal of Literature, Science, and Technology
European Review
Foundations of Chemistry
HOPOS
HOST: Journal of History of Science and Technology
Science in Context
Publishers
Indiana University
Cambridge University Press
Aracne
Baylor University Press
Mimesis
Oxford University Press
Concepts
Philosophy of science
Epistemology
Objectivity
Realism
Methodology of science; scientific method
Subjectivity
People
Agazzi, Evandro
Aristotle
Bukharin, Nikolai Ivanovich
Copernicus, Nicolaus
Fleck, Ludwik
Fraassen, Bas C. van
Time Periods
20th century, early
19th century
20th century
Ancient
Medieval
Modern
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