Science and the Production of Ignorance: When the Quest for Knowledge Is Thwarted

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Janet Kourany (University of Notre Dame) Martin Carrier (Universität Bielefeld)

Science and the Production of Ignorance

When the Quest for Knowledge Is Thwarted

Janet Kourany (University of Notre Dame), Martin Carrier (Universität Bielefeld)

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English

MIT Press
18 February 2020

Philosophy: epistemology & theory of knowledge; Bio-ethics

Series: The MIT Press

An introduction to the new area of ignorance studies that examines how science produces ignorance-both actively and passively, intentionally and unintentionally.

We may think of science as our foremost producer of knowledge, but for the past decade, science has also been studied as an important source of ignorance. The historian of science Robert Proctor has coined the term agnotology to refer to the study of ignorance, and much of the ignorance studied in this new area is produced by science. Whether an active or passive construct, intended or unintended, this ignorance is, in Proctor's words, ""made, maintained, and manipulated"" by science. This volume examines forms of scientific ignorance and their consequences.

A dialogue between Proctor and Peter Galison offers historical context, presenting the concerns and motivations of pioneers in the field. Essays by leading historians and philosophers of science examine the active construction of ignorance by biased design and interpretation of experiments and empirical studies, as seen in the ""false advertising"" by climate change deniers; the ""virtuous"" construction of ignorance-for example, by curtailing research on race- and gender-related cognitive differences; and ignorance as the unintended by-product of choices made in the research process, when rules, incentives, and methods encourage an emphasis on the beneficial and commercial effects of industrial chemicals, and when certain concepts and even certain groups' interests are inaccessible in a given conceptual framework.

Contributors Martin Carrier, Carl F. Cranor, Peter Galison, Paul Hoyningen-Huene, Philip Kitcher, Janet Kourany, Hugh Lacey, Robert Proctor, Londa Schiebinger, Miriam Solomon, Torsten Wilholt

Edited by: Janet Kourany (University of Notre Dame), Martin Carrier (Universität Bielefeld)
Imprint: MIT Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm, Spine: 19mm
ISBN: 9780262538213
ISBN 10: 0262538210
Series: The MIT Press
Pages: 328
Publication Date: 18 February 2020
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Janet Kourany is Associate Professor of Philosophy and concurrent Associate Professor of Gender Studies at the University of Notre Dame. Martin Carrier is Professor of Philosophy at Universit t Bielefeld, Germany.

Reviews for Science and the Production of Ignorance: When the Quest for Knowledge Is Thwarted

This is an excellent, thought-provoking book-offering new perspectives, posing new questions, and opening new areas of research. Its expanded analytic/conceptual design blends the evaluative, and ethical/normative concepts of knowledge in ways profitably applicable to all facets of the scientific enterprise. -The European Legacy