Baker Colloquium to explore 'Doing Science in a Pluralistic Society' : University of Dayton, Ohio

Thursday February 20, 2020

Baker Colloquium to explore 'Doing Science in a Pluralistic Society'

By Mark Gokavi

Whether science is unavoidably value-laden is just one question to be explored in the University of Dayton philosophy department’s Baker Colloquium on March 26-28.

“Is science ineliminably value-laden, or are there particular judgments in science that can be made without implicating social values?” asks Viorel Pâslaru and Zachary Piso, philosophy professors and the event hosts. “When science is value-laden, should fields reflect all divergent values or only the values of some? Through what processes and practices can we determine which and whose values ought to inform science, and at what stage in scientific practice?

“How should we manage conflicts between different values? And how could or should the institutions supporting science be organized to adequately represent diverse values?”

To investigate these questions, the 2020 Baker Colloquium is entitled “Doing Science in a Pluralistic Society.” Keynote presentations will be held by Heather Douglas, Kevin Elliott, Hugh Lacey and Wendy Parker, who will welcome larger audiences in Sears Recital Hall and the Adele McGinnis Community Room.

Douglas and Elliott teach at Michigan State University, Lacey is professor emeritus at Swarthmore College and Parker is co-director of the Centre for Humanities and Society and the Institute for Data Science at Durham University, in the United Kingdom.

Plenary conversations will involve more focused conversations among presenters and registrants. Talks will engage issues that arise in climate science, agricultural science, environmental science, and science and society in general.

Attendees are asked to register or email by March 1 for planning purposes. For more information, email vpaslaru1@udayton.edu or select "Science and Values" from the menu of the University of Dayton's philosophy department homepage.

For University of Dayton sustainability news, please visit the Hanley Sustainability Institute’s news blog, the HSI website and the Sustainability Program website.

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