skip to main content
Caltech

Seminar on History and Philosophy of Science

Thursday, November 30, 2023
4:00pm to 5:00pm
Add to Cal
Dabney Hall 110 (Treasure Room)
Inquiry, Risk, and Impartiality: Lessons from The Harvest of American Racism
Kareem Khalifa, Professor of Philosophy, UCLA,

Abstract: According to the argument from inductive risk, scientists' evidential thresholds should rise or fall according to the costs of error. This is often thought to contravene "impartiality," the idea that moral, social, and political values play no legitimate role in the internal stages of science. We argue that this argument only undermines an imprecise conception of impartiality. When impartiality is regimented, the argument from inductive risk faces new challenges. We illustrate these points with examples from segregation research. We illustrate these points with examples from the Kerner Commission, a group assembled in 1967 to address the widespread urban unrest at the time.

In collaboration with Jared Millson, Rhodes College

For more information, please contact Fran Tise by phone at 626-395-3609 or by email at [email protected].