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The Proper Ends of Science: Philip Kitcher, Science, and the Good

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

Jeremy Simon
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Abstract

In Science, Truth, and Democracy, Philip Kitcher challenges the view that science has a single, context-independent, goal, and that the pursuit of this goal is essentially immune from moral critique. He substitutes a context-dependent account of science's goal, and shows that this account subjects science to moral evaluation. I argue that Kitcher's approach must be modified, as his account of science ultimately must be explicated in terms of moral concepts. I attempt, therefore, to give an account of science's goal that is free of direct moral entanglements but still makes this goal context-dependent and leaves the choice of which projects to pursue subject to moral scrutiny.

Type
Research Article
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 73 , Issue 2 , April 2006 , pp. 194 - 214
Copyright
Copyright © The Philosophy of Science Association

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Footnotes

‡

The author would like to thank Professors Paul Boghossian, Philip Kitcher, and William Ruddick, as well as two anonymous referees, for comments on earlier drafts of this paper.

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