Leading with ethics, aiming for policy

new opportunities for philosophy of science

Nancy Tuana

pp. 471-492

in: Kathryn S. Plaisance, Carla Fehr (eds), Making philosophy of science more socially relevant, Synthese 177 (3), 2010.

Abstract

The goal of this paper is to articulate and advocate for an enhanced role for philosophers of science in the domain of science policy as well as within the science curriculum. I argue that philosophy of science as a field can learn from the successes as well as the mistakes of bioethics and begin to develop a new model that includes robust contributions to the science classroom, research collaborations with scientists, and a role for public philosophy through involvement in science policy development. Through an analysis of two case studies, I illustrate how philosophers of science can make effective and productive contributions to science education as well as to interdisciplinary scientific research, and argue for the essential role of philosophers of science in the realm of science policy.