What should scientists do about (harmful) interactive effects?

Marion Kathe Godman; Caterina Marchionni

doi:10.1007/s13194-022-00493-7

What should scientists do about (harmful) interactive effects?

Marion Kathe Godman, Caterina Marchionni^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Department of Political Science

Research output: Contribution to journal/Conference contribution in journal/Contribution to newspaper › Journal article › Research › peer-review

5 Citations (Scopus)

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Abstract

The phenomenon of interactive human kinds, namely kinds of people that undergo change in reaction to being studied or theorised about, matters not only for the reliability of scientific claims, but also for its wider, sometimes harmful effects at the group or societal level, such as contributing to negative stigmas or reinforcing existing inequalities. This paper focuses on the latter aspect of interactivity and argues that scientists studying interactive human kinds are responsible for foreseeing harmful effects of their research and for devising ways of mitigating them.

Original language	English
Article number	63
Journal	European Journal for Philosophy of Science
Volume	12
Issue	4
ISSN	1879-4912
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/s13194-022-00493-7
Publication status	Published - Dec 2022

Keywords

Human kinds
Interactivity
Moral responsibility of scientists
Predictability
Unintended consequences

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Cite this

@article{cfd9111f4d674162b51700510e6de35c,

title = "What should scientists do about (harmful) interactive effects?",

abstract = "The phenomenon of interactive human kinds, namely kinds of people that undergo change in reaction to being studied or theorised about, matters not only for the reliability of scientific claims, but also for its wider, sometimes harmful effects at the group or societal level, such as contributing to negative stigmas or reinforcing existing inequalities. This paper focuses on the latter aspect of interactivity and argues that scientists studying interactive human kinds are responsible for foreseeing harmful effects of their research and for devising ways of mitigating them.",

keywords = "Human kinds, Interactivity, Moral responsibility of scientists, Predictability, Unintended consequences",

author = "Godman, {Marion Kathe} and Caterina Marchionni",

year = "2022",

month = dec,

doi = "10.1007/s13194-022-00493-7",

language = "English",

volume = "12",

journal = "European Journal for Philosophy of Science",

issn = "1879-4912",