“Practice-Oriented Controversies and Borrowed Epistemic Credibility in Current Evolutionary Biology: Phylogeography as a Case Study

Perspectives on Science 25 (3):310-334 (2017)
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Abstract

Philosophical treatments of scientific controversies usually focus on theory, excluding important practice related aspects. However, scientists in conflict often appeal to extra-theoretical and extra-empirical elements. To understand better the role that non-empirical elements play in scientific controversies, we introduce the notion of borrowed epistemic credibility, illustrating our proposal with a recent controversy in a field of evolutionary biology known as phylogeography. Our analysis shows how scientific controversies that spring from disagreements about methodological issues potentially involve deeper debates regarding what constitutes good science, prompting the re-examination of more general issues, such as the nature of inference, rationality, and objectivity

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Author Profiles

Francisco Vergara-Silva
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
Alfonso Arroyo-Santos
National Autonomous University of Mexico

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The Scientist Qua Scientist Makes Value Judgments.Richard Rudner - 1953 - Philosophy of Science 20 (1):1-6.
The Value of Cognitive Values.Heather Douglas - 2013 - Philosophy of Science 80 (5):796-806.
‘Style’ for historians and philosophers.Ian Hacking - 1991 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 23 (1):1-20.
Computer simulation and the philosophy of science.Eric Winsberg - 2009 - Philosophy Compass 4 (5):835-845.

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