Science and society

1
Science and society

• How do scientific theories (or philosophical
  theories about science) impact commonsense views,
  public policy, etc.?
• And vice versa?
• The case of Genie
• Science at the Bar determining what is science
  and what is not, and using philosophy of science
  to do so...

2
Should scientists be concerned with ethics?

• Genie a natural experiment that could not, on
  ethical grounds, be undertaken any other way
  (forbidden experiment)
• An important hypothesis can be tested
• In what sense is the hypothesis important?
• Yes, the experiment could advance knowledge.
• Is there more that needs to be considered? Is it
  enough to say knowledge is good for its own
  sake and society shouldnt meddle?
• Genie remains alive in a nursing home for the
  retarded, but does not speak or respond to
  people

3
Should scientists be concerned with ethics?

• Genie a natural experiment
• Susan Curtiss
• Judith Butler
• David Rigler
• NIMH
• Subsequent foster homes

4
Should scientists be concerned with ethics?

• Genie a natural experiment that could not, on
  ethical grounds, be undertaken any other way
  (forbidden experiment)
• Suppose she was able to learn language
• Suppose there werent any doubts about her mental
  capacities and she wasnt able to learn language
• Suppose the personalities, ambitions, jealousies,
  research protocols, rescue fantasies hadnt
  been what they were

5
Science at the bar

• Larry Laudan v. Michael Ruse
• Laudan
• McLean vs. Arkansas was a hollow victory
• Aka Ruses ruse
• How the philosophy of science had a role in the
  case

6
Science at the bar

• Judge Overton (and Ruse et al)
• Creation Science is not science because it does
  not contain the essential features of science
• It does not appeal to natural law
• Its claims are not testable or falsifiable
• Its proponents and claims are dogmatic rather
  than tentavie
• Laudans alternative CS is testable and many of
  its claims are patently false.

7
Science at the bar

• Laudan A far more serious problem is that the
  way science was portrayed in the case is a false
  stereotype
• Many scientific claims also cannot be tested in
  isolation and the logic of falsification is
  severely limited by that (Hempel and Duhem)
• Many scientific claims are not viewed by
  scientists of the day as open to negotiation
  there is a degree of dogmatism about core
  commitments among scientists (Kuhn and Duhem)
• We dont insist that in order for something to
  have happened or to exist we must know what laws
  explain it (for example, we know evolution
  occurred and continues to but there are no laws
  in evolutionary theory) (van Fraassens account
  of explanation)

8
Science at the bar

• Laudan A far more serious problem is that the
  way science was portrayed in the case is a false
  stereotype
• Add to all these problems, the fact that
  (scientific, all) observations are theory laden.
• Compromises, to some extent, the sensory
  experiences and/or experimental results that are
  supposed to confirm or falsify a given hypothesis

9
Science at the bar

• In what respects was the portrait of science a
  false stereotype?
• Not all sciences have laws in the sense presumed
  here
• It is not clear that there really is any
  definition, or single criterion, or set of
  criteria, that succeed in defining science and
  demarcating it from other endeavors
• In short, the pro-science defenders are
  defending a philosophy of science which is every
  bit as outmoded as the science of creationism

10
Pro Judice Ruse

• To say that science appeals to law is not
  asserting that we know all the laws.
• Does this answer the critique that not all
  sciences include laws?
• The bottom line of all the various criteria
  offered
• Science does not break with law it does not
  appeal to miracles.
• If in terms of a singularity, what about The Big
  Bang? Not miraculous, but
• Laudans response is insufficient because
• The Constitution does not prohibit the teaching
  of weak or bad science. It prohibits the teaching
  of religion and that is what CS/ID is.