Moral Economies in Science: From Ideal to Pragmatic |
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| Authors: | Janet Atkinson-Grosjean Cory Fairley |
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| Institution: | (1) WM Young Centre for Applied Ethics, University of British Columbia, 235-6356 Agricultural Road, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z2, Canada |
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| Abstract: | In the following pages we discuss three historical cases of moral economies in science: Drosophila genetics, late twentieth
century American astronomy, and collaborations between American drug companies and medical scientists in the interwar years.
An examination of the most striking differences and similarities between these examples, and the conflicts internal to them,
reveals constitutive features of moral economies, and the ways in which they are formed, negotiated, and altered. We critically
evaluate these three examples through the filters of rational choice, utility, and American pragmatism, using the latter to
support the conclusion that there is no single vision of moral economies in science and no single theory—moral, political,
social—that will explain them. These filters may not be the only means through which to evaluate the moral economies examined,
but aspects of each appear prominent in all three cases. In addition, explanations for decisions are often given in the language
of these theories, both at the macro (policy) level and at the local level of the moral economies we discuss. In light of
such factors, the use of these frameworks seems justified. We begin with an attempt to define the nature of moral economies,
then move to a consideration of scientific communities as moral communities operating within material and other constraints
which we relate to wider questions of political economy and societal accountabilities.
Dr Atkinson-Grosjean
is a Senior Research Associate in the WM Young Centre for Applied Ethics at the University of British Columbia where she leads
several research projects focused on large-scale science and the ways in which novel institutional and organizational arrangements
affect the production and translation of scientific knowledge. Current work focuses on the factors that affect scientists’
participation (or lack thereof) in the translational mandates attached to funding. The goal is to contribute to a more nuanced
understanding within policy guidelines of what constitutes ‘translational science’.
Cory Fairley
is a research assistant on Dr Atkinson-Grosjean’s translational science project and a PhD student in the Department of History
at the University of British Columbia, where he also obtained a Masters degree in Philosophy. His current research focuses
on the social history of technology, particularly upstream impacts of market forces on biotechnology in the historical context
of twentieth century. |
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| Keywords: | Moral economies in science Material conditions of science Scientific communities Comparative cases Drosophila genetics American astronomy Ethical drug companies Patent medicines Rational choice Utility Pragmatism |
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