Department of Philosophy and Ethics, Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, The Netherlands.
Sci Eng Ethics. 2013 Mar;19(1):207-18. doi: 10.1007/s11948-011-9300-4. Epub 2011 Aug 7.
We argue that non-epistemic values, including moral ones, play an important role in the construction and choice of models in science and engineering. Our main claim is that non-epistemic values are not only "secondary values" that become important just in case epistemic values leave some issues open. Our point is, on the contrary, that non-epistemic values are as important as epistemic ones when engineers seek to develop the best model of a process or problem. The upshot is that models are neither value-free, nor depend exclusively on epistemic values or use non-epistemic values as tie-breakers.
我们认为,非认知价值观,包括道德价值观,在科学和工程中的模型构建和选择中起着重要作用。我们的主要观点是,非认知价值观不仅是“次要价值观”,只有在认知价值观留下一些问题的情况下才变得重要。相反,我们的观点是,当工程师试图开发一个过程或问题的最佳模型时,非认知价值观与认知价值观同样重要。其结果是,模型既不是无价值的,也不是完全依赖于认知价值观,或者将非认知价值观用作打破僵局的手段。