Abstract
Contemporary philosophical debates about kinds are dominated by a broadly inferentialist perspective: real kinds are clusters of properties that are systematically correlated in virtue of background causal mechanisms. This conception has an important implication for the debate about values, which has been overlooked until now: it implies that the extension of scientific concepts and categories is contested and constantly negotiated not only because of our epistemic limitations, but also due to the inherently statistical nature of the relations that hold between the clustered properties. Many kinds-concepts and categories, moreover, are used not only to describe but also to prescribe: they carry positive or negative connotations which influence the behaviour of lay people, scientists and policy-makers. Such “normative kinds” are the principal target of our project. We will start from the assumption that scientists, lay people and policy-makers are constantly engaged in classificatory decision-making, that is, they constantly make decisions concerning the extension and intension of categories that are used for explanatory, predictive, and normative purposes. Such decisions cannot be based on purely epistemic considerations, but inevitably also involve value judgments. Although describing and prescribing seem to be distinct activities, attempts to draw a sharp line dividing normative and descriptive aspects in the language and concepts of science have been notoriously problematic. Contemporary attempts to vindicate (and regulate) the influence of non-epistemic values on science – as in the classic “Inductive Risk Argument” – typically appeal to uncertainty. Our project in contrast will explore, articulate and assess the thesis that values play an ineliminable role in scientific practice for ontological reasons – due to the cluster-like nature of real kinds, independently of epistemic uncertainty. We shall use a new “topological model” to explore trade-offs between inductive power, cost of error, and to study how norms may boost clustering and hence the projectability of kinds. We expect to identify tensions between epistemic and non-epistemic goals, and by means of the topological model to bring clarity to the problem of classificatory decision-making. We shall also use the model to examine what, if anything, can be saved of scientific realism: Does the success of our inferential practices support any conclusion about the reality of the structures that make such inferences possible? Is realism undermined by the fact that values play a necessary role in classificatory decisions? Finally, the theory will be tested and refined using case studies from areas of science where normative considerations play important but different functions, such as bio-medical research, psychiatry, social and cognitive science. The main goal of this project is to develop a philosophical theory of normative kinds. This is not a purely academic concern, but can and should have an impact on topical social issues such as disease, mental disorder, gender, race, as well as family, marriage, money, and more. We will take the Inductive Risk Argument (IRA) as our point of departure, given its influential role in contemporary philosophical debates. A key premise of our project is that scientists as well as lay people are constantly engaged in classificatory decision-making, that is, they constantly make decisions concerning the extension and intension of categories that are used for explanatory, predictive, and normative purposes. Drawing a wedge between epistemic and non-epistemic goals, the IRA recognizes a role for values in categorical decisions exclusively as a consequence of uncertainty. In a world with perfect knowledge, in other words, there would be no room for value-judgments in science. But since scientists have to make risky decisions all the time – whether to work on a theory, accept a hypothesis,
Project details
Unibo Team Leader: Raffaella Campaner
Unibo involved Department/s:
Dipartimento di Filosofia
Coordinator:
Università degli Studi di MILANO(Italy)
Total Unibo Contribution: Euro (EUR) 111.757,00
Project Duration in months: 26
Start Date:
05/10/2023
End Date:
31/12/2025
