Judges in multiple US states, such as New York, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, California, and Florida, receive a prediction of defendants’ recidivism risk, generated by the COMPAS algorithm. If judges act on these predictions, they implicitly delegate normative decisions to proprietary software, even beyond the previously documented race and age biases. Using the ProPublica dataset, we demonstrate that COMPAS predictions favor jailing over release. COMPAS is biased against defendants. We show that this bias can largely be removed. Our proposed correction increases overall (...) accuracy, and attenuates anti-black and anti-young bias. However, it also slightly increases the risk that defendants are released who commit a new crime before tried. We argue that this normative decision should not be buried in the code. The tradeoff between the interests of innocent defendants and of future victims should not only be made transparent. The algorithm should be changed such that the legislator and the courts do make this choice. (shrink)

Philosophy of Experimental Biology explores some central philosophical issues concerning scientific research in experimental biology, including genetics, biochemistry, molecular biology, developmental biology, neurobiology, and microbiology. It seeks to make sense of the explanatory strategies, concepts, ways of reasoning, approaches to discovery and problem solving, tools, models and experimental systems deployed by scientific life science researchers and also integrates developments in historical scholarship, in particular the New Experimentalism. It concludes that historical explanations of scientific change that are based on local laboratory (...) practice need to be supplemented with an account of the epistemic norms and standards that are operative in science. This book should be of interest to philosophers and historians of science as well as to scientists. (shrink)

Preventive medicine is sometimes criticised as it contributes to medicalization of normal life. The concept ‘medicalization’ has been introduced by Zola to refer to processes in which the labels ‘healthy’ and ‘ill’ are made relevant for more and more aspects of human life. If preventive medicine contributes to medicalization, would that be morally problematic? My thesis is that such a contribution is indeed morally problematic. The concept is sometimes used to express moral intuitions regarding the practice of prevention and health (...) promotion. Through analysis of these intuitions as well as some other moral concerns, I give an explication of the moral problems of medicalization within the context of preventive medicine. (shrink)

ABSTRACT If we have a duty not to infect others, how far does it go? This question is often discussed with respect to HIV transmission, but reflection on other diseases like influenza raises a number of interesting theoretical issues. I argue that a duty to avoid infection not only yields requirements for persons who know they carry a disease, but also for persons who know they are at increased risk, and even for those who definitely know they are completely healthy. (...) Given the numerous ways in which human interaction facilitates the spread of communicable diseases, a maximum level of precaution would be very demanding – possibly unreasonably demanding. The ‘over‐demandingness problem’ is mostly invoked as a criticism of utilitarianism, as this theory requires moral agents to always maximise general welfare, even at significant cost for themselves. However, I argue that, with respect to precautions against infectious diseases like influenza, utilitarianism is able to avoid the over‐demandingness problem. A contractualist account, on the other hand, whilst able to explain how one's obligations to avoid infection can be limited, given that other persons have opportunities and responsibilities to protect themselves, in the end requires precautions that raise the over‐demandingness problem. (shrink)

Recent discussion of the statistical character of evolutionary theory has centered around two positions: Determinism combined with the claim that the statistical character is eliminable, a subjective interpretation of probability, and instrumentalism; Indeterminism combined with the claim that the statistical character is ineliminable, a propensity interpretation of probability, and realism. I point out some internal problems in these positions and show that the relationship between determinism, eliminability, realism, and the interpretation of probability is more complex than previously assumed in this (...) debate. Furthermore, I take some initial steps towards a more adequate account of the statistical character of evolutionary theory. (shrink)

Empirical bioethics is commonly understood as integrating empirical research with normative-ethical research in order to address an ethical issue. Methodological analyses in empirical bioethics mainly focus on the integration of socio-empirical sciences and normative ethics. But while there are numerous multidisciplinary research projects combining life sciences and normative ethics, there is few explicit methodological reflection on how to integrate both fields, or about the goals and rationales of such interdisciplinary cooperation. In this paper we will review some drivers for the (...) tendency of empirical bioethics methodologies to focus on the collaboration of normative ethics with particularly social sciences. Subsequently, we argue that the ends of empirical bioethics, not the empirical methods, are decisive for the question of which empirical disciplines can contribute to empirical bioethics in a meaningful way. Using already existing types of research integration as a springboard, five possible types of research which encompass life sciences and normative analysis will illustrate how such cooperation can be conceptualized from a methodological perspective within empirical bioethics. We will conclude with a reflection on the limitations and challenges of empirical bioethics research that integrates life sciences. (shrink)

The American Journal of Bioethics, Volume 12, Issue 2, Page 16-17, February 2012.

Marcel Paquet croit au projet de constitution d'une Europe unie dans la démocratie en lutte contre les nationalismes et l'universalisme. Un nouveau moment de l'histoire européenne se prépare : l'éthico-politique.

In the social sciences we hardly can create laboratory conditions, we only can try to find out which kinds of experiments Nature has carried out. Knowledge about Nature's designs can be used to infer conditions for reliable predictions. This problem was explicitly dealt with in Haavelmo's (1944) discussion of autonomous relationships, Friedman's (1953) as-if methodology, and Simon's (1961) discussions of nearly-decomposable systems. All three accounts take Marshallian partitioning as starting point, however not with a sharp ceteris paribus razor but with (...) the blunt knife of negligibility assumptions. As will be shown, in each account reflection on which influences are negligible, for what phenomena and for how long, played a central role. (shrink)

Glenn Harrison [Journal of Economic Methodology, 2013, 20, 103–117] discusses four related forms of methodological intolerance with respect to field experiments: field experiments should rely on some form of randomization, should be disconnected from theory, the concept of causality should only be defined in terms of observables, and the role of laboratory experiments is dismissed. As is often the case, the cause of intolerance is ignorance, as it is here. To acquire knowledge about potential influences, which we need for both (...) the evaluation of internal and external validity of experimental results, we cannot do without theory. A purely empiricist methodology will be unable to give us sufficient understanding of the validity of these results. An account of causality only based on directly observed things, is an account based on factual influences only. This account will be too restricted, because it will not deal with the unobserved potential influences, which we need – again – for the evaluat... (shrink)

There has been increased interest in the potential of maternal immunisation to protect maternal, fetal, and infant health. Maternal tetanus vaccination is part of routine antenatal care and immunisation campaigns in many countries, and it has played an important part in the reduction of maternal and neonatal tetanus. Additional vaccines that have been recommended for routine maternal immunisation include those for influenza and pertussis, and other vaccines are being developed. Maternal immunisation is controversial since regulators, professionals, and the public are (...) often reluctant to accept pharmaceutical interventions during pregnancy. So far, little attention has been given to the ethics of vaccination during pregnancy. In this Personal View we argue that maternal immunisation should be offered in response to concrete, severe risks of disease for mother and child, and we explain how this requirement of serious risk can be used to guide ethical decision-making about maternal immunisation. (shrink)

This article seeks to show the interaction between cultural and anatomic evolution in the birth and differentiation of cultures and languages. The diversity which characterizes our world does not preclude logical regularities due to the coherence of the human mind, which evolved slowly through the paleontological phases of its emergence over millions of years. The anatomical retroaction of the hominids is analyzed to show that, in the long run, anatomy reflected ‘cultural selection’. With the anatomic evolution of man, culture became (...) a crucial component for all human beings and their anatomy simply adapted progressively to this fact. (shrink)

Il est une actualité de la syllogistique aristotélicienne qui impose encore aujourd'hui les règles de l'argumentation logique dans la production du savoir scientifique. Le moyen terme y régule la structure et la forme du raisonnement — cet ensemble de jugements — élaboré de telle sorte que la conclusion découle nécessairement des prémisses. Chez Aristote, le jugement requiert ainsi une multitude de procédures d'application à la réalité. Or, Boole trouve en cela un problème méthodologique largement négligé par les logiciens et certains (...) historiens des sciences modernes : le problème d'Aristote sur le moyen terme, le moyen terme étant à la fois cause, matière et forme du syllogisme catégorique. Les deux penseurs visent pourtant l'infaillibilité du raisonnement par l'élimination du moyen terme dans les procédures de la recherche de la vérité. Ce qui les divise est à la fois d'ordre méthodologique et de degré. Car, Aristote élimine le moyen terme de la conclusion et selon les lois ultimes de l'objet. Boole, en revanche, élimine le moyen terme du raisonnement symbolique sur la base des lois ultimes de la pensée pure en lui reniant le statut que lui conférait Aristote. Cet article vise à montrer, à la lumière de cette éclipse du moyen terme pour Aristote que, pour Boole, la solution nécessaire au problème d'Aristote est la « théorie générale des signes » qui, elle, consacre l'élimination du moyen terme du raisonnement symbolique. C'est une exigence de la pensée connaissante en ce qu'elle constitue son caractère méta-méthodologique. La théorie générale des signes rendrait ainsi l'actualité de l'aristotélisme plus persistante si tant est qu'il est admis que Boole ne s'en est lui-même pas encore démarqué. (shrink)

Il est une actualité de la syllogistique aristotélicienne qui impose encore aujourd'hui les règles de l'argumentation logique dans la production du savoir scientifique. Le moyen terme y régule la structure et la forme du raisonnement — cet ensemble de jugements — élaboré de telle sorte que la conclusion découle nécessairement des prémisses. Chez Aristote, le jugement requiert ainsi une multitude de procédures d'application à la réalité. Or, Boole trouve en cela un problème méthodologique largement négligé par les logiciens et certains (...) historiens des sciences modernes : le problème d'Aristote sur le moyen terme, le moyen terme étant à la fois cause, matière et forme du syllogisme catégorique. Les deux penseurs visent pourtant l'infaillibilité du raisonnement par l'élimination du moyen terme dans les procédures de la recherche de la vérité. Ce qui les divise est à la fois d'ordre méthodologique et de degré. Car, Aristote élimine le moyen terme de la conclusion et selon les lois ultimes de l'objet. Boole, en revanche, élimine le moyen terme du raisonnement symbolique sur la base des lois ultimes de la pensée pure en lui reniant le statut que lui conférait Aristote. Cet article vise à montrer, à la lumière de cette éclipse du moyen terme pour Aristote que, pour Boole, la solution nécessaire au problème d'Aristote est la « théorie générale des signes » qui, elle, consacre l'élimination du moyen terme du raisonnement symbolique. C'est une exigence de la pensée connaissante en ce qu'elle constitue son caractère méta-méthodologique. La théorie générale des signes rendrait ainsi l'actualité de l'aristotélisme plus persistante si tant est qu'il est admis que Boole ne s'en est lui-même pas encore démarqué. (shrink)

Generally, rational decision-making is conceived as arriving at a decision by a correct application of the rules of logic and statistics. If not, the conclusions are called biased. After an impressive series of experiments and tests carried out in the last few decades, the view arose that rationality is tough for all, skilled field experts not excluded. A new type of planner's counsellor is called for: the normative statistician, the expert in reasoning with uncertainty par excellence. To unravel this view, (...) the paper explores a specific practice of clinical decision-making, namely Evidence-Based Medicine. This practice is chosen, because it is very explicit about how to rationalize practice. The paper shows that whether a decision-making process is rational cannot be assessed without taking into account the environment in which the decisions have to be taken. To be more specific, the decision to call for new evidence should be rational too. This decision and the way in which this evidence is obtained are crucial to validate the base rates. Rationality should be model-based, which means that not only the isolated decision-making process should take a Bayesian updating process as its norm, but should also model the acquisition of evidence (priors and tests results) as a rational process. (shrink)

Sous l'influence d'Anaximandre, Parménide radicalise la pensée d'Héraclite : comme tout ce qui est au monde, le monde lui-même est à la merci de la puissance universelle et annihilante du temps. Reste pourtant ce sur sur quoi le temps n'a aucune prise : non ce qu'il y a, mais le fait même qu'il y ait.

The present historical epoch seems to be characterized by a general trend towards pacification. Conflicts of all kinds - internal and external, personal and collective - are becoming less central to social life. This reflects a new type of individualism, rather than further progress of individualism in the classical sense. Contemporary individuals are losing the sense of commitment and continuity that was needed to sustain conflicts. This development has far-reaching effects on the very nature of the social bond and raises (...) questions about its future; the radicalization of individualism may find expression in overtly anti-statist attitudes, but it inevitably entails a latent strengthening of the state as a necessary link between desocialized individuals. The logic of contemporary hyperindividualism is also reflected in the growth of new pathological symptoms, related to identity problems as well as to the condition of solitude in society. (shrink)

Human–animal relations in post-industrial societies are characterized by a system of cultural categories that distinguishes between different types of animals based on their function in human society, such as “farm animals” or “pets.” The system of cultural categories, and the allocation of animal species within this cultural classification system can change. Options for change include re-categorizing a specific animal species within the categorical system. The paper argues that attempts by political actors to adapt the institutional system to cultural change that (...) calls for re-categorization of certain animal species can start a contradictory process that may lead to long-term survival of the respective institution despite the cultural change. It is common to explain the persistence of political institutions with institutional path dependency or policy preferences of the governing parties. This paper introduces a new institutional theoretical approach to the explanation, the approach of “rejecting changing a part for fear of undermining the whole.” This paper uses a case study of a series of failed political efforts to change the treatment of dogs in the framework of the agricultural human–animal policy in the Federal Republic of Germany in the second half of the twentieth century, to evaluate its theoretical argument, using analyses of historical political documents, mass media, and communication documents between civil society actors and policymakers. This paper makes an innovative contribution to the theory and research on institutional change, the sociology of agriculture and food, and the sociology of human–animal relations. (shrink)