Hofmann B
Med Humanit. 2008 Jun;34(1):19-24. doi: 10.1136/jmh.2008.000267.
Are there similarities between scientific and moral inference? This is the key question in this article. It takes as its point of departure an instance of one person's story in the media changing both Norwegian public opinion and a brand-new Norwegian law prohibiting the use of saviour siblings. The case appears to falsify existing norms and to establish new ones. The analysis of this case reveals similarities in the modes of inference in science and morals, inasmuch as (a) a single case functions as a counter-example to an existing rule; (b) there is a common presupposition of stability, similarity and order, which makes it possible to reason from a few cases to a general rule; and (c) this makes it possible to hold things together and retain order. In science, these modes of inference are referred to as falsification, induction and consistency. In morals, they have a variety of other names. Hence, even without abandoning the fact-value divide, there appear to be similarities between inference in science and inference in morals, which may encourage communication across the boundaries between "the two cultures" and which are relevant to medical humanities.
科学推理和道德推理之间存在相似之处吗？这是本文的关键问题。它以媒体报道的一个人的故事为例，这个故事改变了挪威公众舆论，并促成了一项全新的挪威法律的出台，该法律禁止使用“救世主兄弟姐妹”。这个案例似乎证伪了现有规范并确立了新的规范。对该案例的分析揭示了科学和道德推理模式中的相似之处，具体如下：（a）单个案例可作为现有规则的反例；（b）存在稳定性、相似性和秩序的共同预设，这使得从少数案例推理出一般规则成为可能；（c）这使得事物能够整合在一起并保持秩序。在科学中，这些推理模式被称为证伪、归纳和一致性。在道德领域，它们有各种不同的名称。因此，即使不放弃事实与价值的区分，科学推理和道德推理之间似乎也存在相似之处，这可能会促进“两种文化”之间的交流，并且与医学人文学科相关。
