Dr. Nancy Cartwright will be the third annual Lecturer in Philosophy & Science, giving two talks: one on Thursday, March 8th beginning at 5pm EST ("Evidence, Argument and Mixed Methods"), and another on Friday, March 9th at 3:30 pm EST ( "Wiser Use of Social Science, Wiser Wishes, Wiser Policies"). Both talks will be streNintendo [...]
The CBC reports on Nature's extraordinary editorial on the Harper government's control over scientific dissemination, policy which is starting to make headlines internationally as well. The full text of the editorial in Nature can be found here. The criticism is severe. As the articles notes, Researchers who once would have felt comfortable responding freely and [...]
I’ve been thinking more about the intersection of science and politics, somewhat unsure how to broach such a broad topic. The question I’m pondering is: why conflict? Why not smooth integration of scientific consensus into the decision-making process? Large, unwieldy question. Now the advice typically given in such a situation is to choose a specific [...]
Jesse Prinz (CUNY) asks "Why Are Men So Violent?" in Psychology Today, suggesting the answer is to be found in historical, and not biological, factors. (As a follow-up, I recommend Corey Robin's piece on arch-libertarian Ludwig von Mises' views of gender.) The journal Nature has a fascinating series of articles on the ethical and scientific [...]
Science, Values, and Democracy In the next few posts I would like to examine the role of science in determining public policy. Though I will be using current events as examples, the purpose is not to evaluate policies but to highlight the issues at play when thinking about the use of scientific evidence in democratic [...]