The Constitutive Values of Science

• Main Author: Hugh Lacey
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina 1997-06-01
• Series: Principia: An International Journal of Epistemology
• Subjects: Cognitive values; control of nature; value-free science
• Online Access: http://www.periodicos.ufsc.br/index.php/principia/article/view/18749/17358

Cognitive values are the characteristics that are constitutive of good theories, the criteria to which we appeal when choosing among competing theories. I argue that, in order to count as a cognitive value, a characteristic must be needed to explain actually made theory choices, and its cognitive significance must be well defended especially in view of considerations derived from the objective of science. A number of proposed objectives of science are entertained, and it is argued that adopting a par-ticular objective is dialectically intertwined with commitment to certain social values.Then, the ways in which science is, and is not value free is explored briefly, leading to the identification of a level of analysis where values may influence theory choice without causing paradox or threatening the impartiality of soundly-made scientific judgments.