Uploaded May 2021 | Updated September 2026, 1 day ago
Dr. Vlasta Sikimić (CFvW, Tübingen): The Interplay between Political and Epistemic Views of Scientists
When deciding between two competing theories scientists use a wide array of epistemic judgments. We were particularly interested in the role that epistemic tolerance, epistemic authoritarianism, and the skepticism towards the scientific method play in this matter. Epistemic tolerance represents the openness towards opposing views, while epistemic authoritarianism stands for a tendency to accept the views of the authority. Moreover, there is the question of whether the sociopolitical attitudes of researchers influence their decisions about which theories to pursue. We introduced scales for empirically measuring listed epistemic stances and surveyed 655 researchers working in both social and natural sciences. We compared their epistemic views with their level of conservatives and their political orientation. The findings show only a small correlation between epistemic and sociopolitical attitudes of researchers, which is an argument in favor of the hypothesis that science could be free of political values after all.
Link to the paper:
link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13164-020-00504-7
The talk was given at the Philosophy of Science & Methodology Colloquium (University of Tübingen) organized by Prof. Dr. Alexandra Zinke and Prof. Dr. Hong Yu Wong.
Dr. Vlasta Sikimić (CFvW, Tübingen): The Interplay between Political and Epistemic Views of Scientists
When deciding between two competing theories scientists use a wide array of epistemic judgments. We were particularly interested in the role that epistemic tolerance, epistemic authoritarianism, and the skepticism towards the scientific method play in this matter. Epistemic tolerance represents the openness towards opposing views, while epistemic authoritarianism stands for a tendency to accept the views of the authority. Moreover, there is the question of whether the sociopolitical attitudes of researchers influence their decisions about which theories to pursue. We introduced scales for empirically measuring listed epistemic stances and surveyed 655 researchers working in both social and natural sciences. We compared their epistemic views with their level of conservatives and their political orientation. The findings show only a small correlation between epistemic and sociopolitical attitudes of researchers, which is an argument in favor of the hypothesis that science could be free of political values after all.
Link to the paper:
link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13164-020-00504-7
The talk was given at the Philosophy of Science & Methodology Colloquium (University of Tübingen) organized by Prof. Dr. Alexandra Zinke and Prof. Dr. Hong Yu Wong.
