Scientific conclusions need not be accurate, justified, or believed by their authors.

We argue that the main results of scientific papers may appropriately be published even if they are false, unjustified, and not believed to be true or justified by their author. To defend this claim we draw upon the literature studying the norms of assertion, and consider how they would apply if one...

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Publicado en:Synthese Vol. 199; no. 3/4; pp. 8187 - 8204
Autores principales: Dang, Haixin, Bright, Liam Kofi
Formato: Artículo
Publicado: Springer Nature Dec2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
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        atl: Scientific conclusions need not be accurate, justified, or believed by their authors.
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        au:
          Dang, Haixin
          Bright, Liam Kofi
        affil:
          The School of Philosophy, Religion and History of Science, Botany House, University of Leeds, LS2 9JT, Leeds, UK
          Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method, Lakatos Building, London School of Economics, Houghton Street, WC2A 2AE, London, UK
      su:
        Social epistemology
        Scientific discoveries
        Twentieth century
        Scientific communication
        Authors
      sug:
        subj:
          Social epistemology
          Scientific discoveries
          Twentieth century
          Scientific communication
          Authors
      keyword:
        Norms of assertion
        Science communication
        Social epistemology of science
      ab: We argue that the main results of scientific papers may appropriately be published even if they are false, unjustified, and not believed to be true or justified by their author. To defend this claim we draw upon the literature studying the norms of assertion, and consider how they would apply if one attempted to hold claims made in scientific papers to their strictures, as assertions and discovery claims in scientific papers seem naturally analogous. We first use a case study of William H. Bragg's early twentieth century work in physics to demonstrate that successful science has in fact violated these norms. We then argue that features of the social epistemic arrangement of science which are necessary for its long run success require that we do not hold claims of scientific results to their standards. We end by making a suggestion about the norms that it would be appropriate to hold scientific claims to, along with an explanation of why the social epistemology of science—considered as an instance of collective inquiry—would require such apparently lax norms for claims to be put forward.
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    language: English
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