Advocates or unencumbered selves? On the role of Mill's political liberalism in Longino's contextual empiricism

Title: Advocates or unencumbered selves? On the role of Mill's political liberalism in Longino's contextual empiricism
Format: Journal Article
Publication Date: December 2010
Published In: Philosophy of Science
Description: Helen Longino's "contextual empiricism" is one of the most sophisticated recent attempts to defend a social theory of science. On this view, objectivity and epistemic acceptability require that research be produced within communities that approximate a Millian marketplace of ideas. I argue, however, that Longino's embedding of her epistemology within the framework of Mill's political liberalism implies a conception of individual epistemic agents that is incompatible with her view that scientific knowledge is necessarily social, and I begin to articulate an alternative conception that is better suited to a truly social theory of science.
Ivan Allen College Contributors:
Citation: Philosophy of Science. 76. Issue 5. 612 - 623. ISSN 0031-8248.
Related Departments:
  • School of Public Policy