2000 HSS/PSA Program 1 - History of Science Society

PSA Abstracts
Gambling With Truth.) Such measures are invariably discrete in the sense that
they assign different epistemic values to only a finite number of epistemic
states. In this paper, I defend a measure of epistemic utility that assigns different
epistemic values to a continuum of epistemic states. Interestingly, on this
continuous measure of epistemic utility, there are plausible counter-examples
to Carnap’s “principle of total evidence” (in particular, to the claim that
performing experiments is always epistemically valuable).
David Faust University of Rhode Island
Using Meta-Scientific Studies to Clarify or Resolve Questions in the
Philosophy and History of Science
The resolution or clarification of certain key, longstanding issues in the
philosophy and history of science, particularly normative ones, may be greatly
facilitated by augmenting and supplementing methods of analysis and study.
Faust and Meehl have described such methodology and its underlying
assumptions and rationale under the label of “meta-science.” In this
presentation, I will discuss the basic underlying tenants of the “Faust-Meehl
Thesis,” describe new indices for evaluating the status of scientific assertions
and theories and the combination of such indices, and provide examples of
their use in narrow and broad contexts. Examples include the application of
meta-scientific methods to the evaluation of grant proposals and theories. Metascientific
study of the type described here may aid, in particular, in determining
the links between prescriptive advice and the success of scientific endeavors,
and between the standing of theories on various dimensions (e.g., predictive
and explanatory power) and their long-term fate.
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Carla Fehr Iowa State University
The evolution of sexual reproduction:
pluralism that is more than a pragmatic issue
The evolution of sexual reproduction is a case of explanatory pluralism,
meaning that there is more than one explanation for this phenomenon. I use
the concept of a domain to more clearly explicate the various explananda that
can be found in this case. I argue that although pluralism with respect to some
types of domains can be decreased using van Fraassen s pragmatics of
explanation, there remains an important class of domain, an orthogonal domain,
for which this is not the case.
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