The ideal of a value-free science can be considered, by now, long abandoned in favour of a more nuanced picture that Philosophy of Science has helped to delineate. We now know that values influence science is many different ways, and this opens up the field to a fascinating line of inquire about the intricate ways in which values can affect scientific results and practices: When is the impact of values pernicious for scientific projects? In what sense is the impact of normative considerations on scientific results inevitable? Why and under what circumstances is the influence of values desirable to the scientific endeavour?
The aim of this course is to discuss each of these questions in relation to case studies both from historical accounts and current examples of scientific practice. We will combine academic philosophy and popular science and see how conceptual analysis has practical implications for science and its public reception and understanding.
