Download Lecture 3: Gould and evidence as inferential

Announcements
Changes in paper due dates (already
announced by email):
Drafts (for those seeking writing credit) are
due Friday, May 29th.
Final version of paper is due at start of final
exam, June 10.
Our last meeting (lecture) is June 4th. We’ll
wrap things up and engage in review.
The last section meeting is June 5th.
Science and ethics
Can social beliefs and values impact “good”
science, or is any science that is so
impacted “bad” science (Gould)?
The treatment of non-human primates
Scientific theories about differences
between human groups
Scientific “integrity” and social input
Ethical standards for studying human
subjects
Can social context inform (good?)
science
S.J. Gould, “Wide Hats and Narrow Minds” and
“Women’s Brains”
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19th century anthropology
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The hypothesis: intelligence is caused by brain
size (larger is better).

There are differences between races and
sexes in intelligence – and differences in brain
size
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The basic differences in intelligence assumed
by anthropologists were widely assumed in
the relevant historical and social context.
Can social context inform (good?)
science
Gould: “If we laugh with derision, we will never
understand…”
Good science?
Good science can be informed by social
beliefs
Broca’s impeccable numbers
But at least in one case, he is guilty of circular
reasoning
Gould: “I do not regard as empty rhetoric the claim
that women’s battles are for all of us.”
Can social context inform (good?)
science
Recall from the beginning of the course:
The norm of the autonomy of science and its
roots in the Scientific Revolution
How it is reflected in scientists’ reactions to
“Creation Science” and “ID”
And how it is reflected in the reading from the
Union of Concerned Scientists (“Scientific
Integrity”
Can social context inform (good?)
science
Two other entrenched norms:
Knowledge is a good for its own sake
and
Science is “value free”
How does each norm (including that of the
autonomy of science) fare in light of research
such as that Gould documents?
Can social context inform (good?)
science
The autonomy of science
Science should not be interfered with or
challenged on the basis of social and/or
political views
UCS: certainly at risk when evidence of global
warming was dismissed, NASA couldn’t
mention The Big Bang
When education boards (e.g., in Texas) sought to
ban the teaching of evolution and/or present
it as “just a theory” and/or teach ID as an
“alternative scientific theory”
Can social context inform (good?)
science
Knowledge as a good in its own sake
Three crucial debates:
The development of the atomic bomb
Oppenheimer in response to critiques of scientists’ work
to develop it:
“The reason we did this job is that it could be done. If
you’re a scientist you cannot refuse to undertake
such research. If you’re a scientists, there is an
organic necessity to find out what knowledge you
can and turn that knowledge over to mankind to use
by its [mankind’s] own lights and values.”
Can social context inform (good?)
science
Knowledge as a good in its own sake
Three crucial debates:
Recombinant DNA techniques (1977)
Self-imposed world-wide moratorium on the use of the
techniques until further study
Short term benefits: create artificially-designed versions
of insulin; create pest-resistant agricultural
products;
Short term risks: Creating a pathogen that escapes labs;
simplicity of the techniques that can be mimicked by
those interested in inflicting harm.
Can social context inform (good?)
science
Recombinant DNA techniques (1977)
Long term harms: playing evolution and creating
entirely new species without being able to
predict the evolutionary consequences
Chargaff:
“Knowledge must be combined with wisdom. …
“Future generations will curse us [for this].
Can social context inform (good?)
science
From The Liberal Art of Science (AAAS)
“The teaching of science must include the
interplay between science and the intellectual
and cultural traditions within which it is firmly
embedded. Science has a history that can
demonstrate the relationship between
science and the wider world of ideas, and can
illuminate contemporary issues.”
Can social context inform (good?)
science
From The Liberal Art of Science (AAAS)
“Liberal education in the sciences must provide
students with linkages to the real world by
exploring the values inherent in science and
technology, by examining the institutions that
set the directions for science and technology,
and by stressing the choices scientists,
citizens, and governments make about
science in human lives.”
How social context can inform (good?) science
Divisions in cognitive authority and cognitive labor
between scientists and citizens
Historical relationships between scientists and
citizens
Current scientific illiteracy among citizens
What group or which groups can be entrusted with
understanding the social and ethical
implications of scientific research?
Citizens?
Scientists?
Politicians/governments?
How social context can inform (good?) science
Contemporary lessons?
In addition to the need for reflexivity on the
part of scientists in terms of the role of
auxiliary assumptions, theory-laden
observations, bodies of theory, paradigms
Such influence is not absolute and science itself
can serve as a corrective
Gould himself uses science to critique 19th
century science
How social context can inform (good?) science
Contemporary lessons?
Plus then contemporary scientific critics:
John Stuart Mill, “On the Subjection of Women”
The only way we could demonstrate that women
are inferior is to provide them with an equal
playing field and see that they fail
We have not given women an equal playing field
so we can’t confirm that they are inferior
I suspect that the resistance to the social
experiment is that it would fail and a social
revolution would occur…
How social context can inform (good?) science
Contemporary lessons?
In addition to the need for reflexivity on the part
of scientists in terms of the role of auxiliary
assumptions, theory-laden observations,
bodies of theory, paradigms
Such influence is not absolute and science itself
can serve as a corrective
Scientists such as Mill, Wallace, Manrouvier, and
Gould identify the problems with scientific
evidence, hypotheses and theories
Ethics and science
The case of “Genie”
The scientific questions:
Are humans born with an innate capacity for
language (syntax) or is behaviorism correct?
Yes, they are so equipped: Noam Chomsky
(Linguistics at Harvard, 1950s and 60s)
If so, is there a “critical window” for language
acquisition, after a child has passed through it
without language it becomes difficult or impossible
to acquire one?
Yes, there is a critical window (1960s)
A child’s ability to acquire language is peak
between birth and 7, and then declines
Ethics and science
The case of “Genie,” a “natural experiment”:
Scientific questions:
Deprived of language through puberty, can she
nevertheless be taught and acquire language?
The players: “Genie” and the team of scientists and
medical doctors who work with/live with/treat her
What ethical issues emerge in the study/treatment of
Genie?
How should human and/or any other cognitively aware
animal be treated?
Is knowledge a good for its own sake?
Should ethics limit/shape scientific research?