We have the pleasure to invite you to another research seminar in the ‘BIOUNCERTAINTY’ research project. This week Elena Popa a new post-doctoral researcher at INCET will give a talk: "(Dis)Trust in Science and Values: Two Arguments in Relation to Public Health". The seminar will take place on Thursday 17th of November at 5:30 p.m. in the room 25 on Grodzka Street and via MS Teams.

This paper will discuss the problem of trust in science and its place in discussions over science and values with special reference to public health. This is important because questions whether values should influence decisions regarding hypothesis assessment and acceptance of evidence typically focuses on scientific objectivity, and less on trust. I will first look into how effects on trust in science can be incorporated in a framework looking at cases of uncertainty, namely the argument from inductive risk (Douglas 2000). In doing so, I will also consider other types of risk relevant to the case of public health, such as representational risk (Harvard & Winsberg 2021). Secondly, I will provide an argument from trust in science to expand the case beyond cases of uncertainty. To do so, I will employ a prospective approach, looking not only at whether decisions about hypothesis testing or evidence standards are value-laden, but also at value-promoting concepts or methods (Russo 2021). The question of interest is what kinds of values and practices are trust-promoting. I will explore the example of justice in connection to approaches linking distrust to structural injustice (Krishnamurthy 2015). Drawing on work in political philosophy, I will argue that in public health contexts decisions that align with justice are more conducive to trust. This can be integrated within an ethical framework regarding public health outcomes and the role of values in science.

 

Link to MS Teams meeting