Objectivity (science)
Objectivity in science is an attempt to uncover truths about the natural world by eliminating personal biases, emotions, and false beliefs.[1] It is often linked to observation as part of the scientific method. It is thus intimately related to the aim of testability and reproducibility. To be considered objective, the results of measurement must be communicated from person to person, and then demonstrated for third parties, as an advance in a collective understanding of the world. Such demonstrable knowledge has ordinarily conferred demonstrable powers of prediction or technology.
The problem of
History
The scientific method was argued for by Enlightenment philosopher Francis Bacon, rose to popularity with the discoveries of Isaac Newton and his followers, and continued into later eras. In the early eighteenth century, there existed an epistemic virtue in science which has been called truth-to-nature.[1]: 55–58 This ideal was practiced by Enlightenment naturalists and scientific atlas-makers, and involved active attempts to eliminate any idiosyncrasies in their representations of nature in order to create images thought best to represent "what truly is".[1]: 59–60 [2]: 84–85 Judgment and skill were deemed necessary in order to determine the "typical", "characteristic", "ideal", or "average".[2]: 87 In practicing, truth-to-nature naturalists did not seek to depict exactly what was seen; rather, they sought a reasoned image.[1]: 98
In the latter half of the nineteenth-century, objectivity in science was born when a new practice of mechanical objectivity appeared.
In the twentieth century trained judgment[1]: 309 supplemented mechanical objectivity as scientists began to recognize that, in order for images or data to be of any use, scientists needed to be able to see scientifically; that is, to interpret images or data and identify and group them according to particular professional training, rather than to simply depict them mechanically.[1]: 311–314 Since the latter half of the nineteenth century, objectivity has come to involve a combination of trained judgment and mechanical objectivity.
Objectivity in measurement
Another methodological aspect is the avoidance of bias, which can involve
The role of the scientific community
Various scientific processes, such as
Next to unintentional and systematic error, there is always the possibility of deliberate misrepresentation of scientific results, whether for gain, fame, or ideological motives. When such cases of scientific fraud come to light, they usually give rise to an
Critiques of scientific objectivity
A critical argument on scientific objectivity and
Thomas Kuhn's The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
Based on a historical review of the development of certain scientific theories in his book, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, scientist and historian Thomas Kuhn raised some philosophical objections to claims of the possibility of scientific understanding being truly objective. In Kuhn's analysis, scientists in different disciplines organise themselves into de facto paradigms within which scientific research is done, junior scientists are educated, and scientific problems are determined.[5]
When observational data arises which appears to contradict or
Kuhn's theory has been criticised by scientists such as Richard Dawkins and Alan Sokal as presenting a relativist view of scientific progress.[6][7]
Donna Haraway's Situated Knowledges
In
See also
- Objectivity (philosophy)
References
- ^ ISBN 9781890951795. Archived from the originalon 2017-05-22. Retrieved 2015-07-23.
- ^ JSTOR 2928741.
- ISBN 9780761941996.
- ^ ISBN 9780387347080.
- ^ a b Kuhn, Thomas S. (1962), The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (PDF), The University of Chicago Press, archived from the original (PDF) on 20 October 2014, retrieved 14 November 2014
- ^ Dawkins, Richard (2000). "Hall Of Mirrors".
- ISBN 0312204078.
- ^ S2CID 39794636. Archived from the original(PDF) on 2017-08-29. Retrieved 2015-07-23.
Sources
- Dawkins, Richard (2003). A Devil's Chaplain: Selected essays. Phoenix.
- Kuhn, Thomas (1962). The structure of scientific revolutions. University of Chicago Press, 3rd Ed., 1996.
- Latour, Bruno (1987). Science in Action. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press.
- Polanyi, Michael (1958). Personal knowledge, towards a post-critical philosophy. London: Routledge.
- Intellectual Impostures: Postmodern philosophers' abuse of science. London: Profile Books.
Further reading
- Gaukroger, S. (2001). Objectivity, History of. IN: Smelser, N. J. & Baltes, P. B. (eds.) International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences. Oxford. (pp. 10785–10789).
- Porter, Theodore M. (1995). Trust in Numbers: The Pursuit of Objectivity in Science and Public Life. Princeton University Press.
- Restivo, Sal. (20XX). Science, Society, and Values: Toward a Sociology of Objectivity. Lehigh University Press.[ISBN missing]
- Reiss, Julian; Sprenger, Jan (6 November 2017) [First published 25 August 2014]. "Scientific Objectivity". In ISSN 1095-5054. Retrieved 31 May 2018.