Science Policy, Ethics, and Economic Methodology

Science Policy, Ethics, and Economic Methodology
Author: Kristin Shrader-Frechette
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 413
Release: 2012-12-06
Genre: Science
ISBN: 9400964498

If indeed scientists and technologists, especially economists, set much of the agenda by which the future is played out, and I think they do, then the student of scientific methodology and public ethics has at least three options. He can embrace certain scientific methods and the value they hold for social decisionmaking, much as Milton Friedman has accepted neoclassical econom ics. Or, he can condemn them, regardless of their value, much as Stuart Hampshire has rejected risk-cost-benefit analysis (RCBA). Finally, he can critically assess these scientific methods and attempt to provide solutions to the problems he has uncovered. As a philosopher of science seeking the middle path between uncritical acceptance and extremist rejection of the economic methods used in policy analysis, I have tried to avoid the charge of being "anti science". Fred Hapgood, in response to my presentation at a recent Boston Colloquium for the Philosophy of Science, said that my arguments "felt like" a call for rejection of the methods of risk-cost-benefit analysis. Not so, as Chapter Two of this volume should make eminently clear. All my criticisms are construc tive ones, and the flaws in economic methodology which I address are uncovered for the purpose of suggesting means of making good techniques better. Likewise, although I criticize the economic methodology by which many technology assessments (TA's) and environmental-impact analyses (EIA's) have been used to justify public projects, it is wrong to conclude that I am anti-technology.

Monthly Catalog of United States Government Publications

Monthly Catalog of United States Government Publications
Author: United States. Superintendent of Documents
Publisher:
Total Pages: 1228
Release: 1978
Genre: Government publications
ISBN:

February issue includes Appendix entitled Directory of United States Government periodicals and subscription publications; September issue includes List of depository libraries; June and December issues include semiannual index

Indexes

Indexes
Author: United States. Environmental Protection Agency
Publisher:
Total Pages: 1760
Release: 1983
Genre:
ISBN: