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Adjusting Inferential Thresholds to Reflect Nonepistemic Values

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

Kim Kaivanto  and
Daniel Steel
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Abstract

Many philosophers have challenged the ideal of value-free science on the grounds that social or moral values are relevant to inferential thresholds. But given this view, how precisely and to what extent should scientists adjust their inferential thresholds in light of nonepistemic values? We suggest that signal detection theory provides a useful framework for addressing this question. Moreover, this approach opens up further avenues for philosophical inquiry and has important implications for philosophical debates concerning inductive risk. For example, the signal detection theory framework entails that considerations of inductive risk and inferential-threshold placement cannot be conducted in isolation from base-rate information.

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Articles
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Philosophy of Science , Volume 86 , Issue 2 , April 2019 , pp. 255 - 285
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Copyright © The Philosophy of Science Association

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Footnotes

†

The authors would like to thank the editor, two anonymous reviewers, and seminar participants at the Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München. The usual disclaimer applies.

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