Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-94fs2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T09:13:41.476Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Masking Disagreement among Experts

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 January 2012

John Beatty
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

There are many reasons why scientific experts may mask disagreement and endorse a position publicly as “jointly accepted.” In this paper I consider the inner workings of a group of scientists charged with deciding not only a technically difficult issue, but also a matter of social and political importance: the maximum acceptable dose of radiation. I focus on how, in this real world situation, concerns with credibility, authority, and expertise shaped the process by which this group negotiated the competing virtues of reaching consensus versus reporting accurately the nature and degree of disagreement among them.

Type
Research Article
Information
Episteme , Volume 3 , Issue 1-2 , June 2006 , pp. 52 - 67
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2006

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Balogh, B. (1991). Chain Reaction: Expert Debate and Public Participation in American Commercial Nuclear Power. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carlson, E. (1981). Genes, Radiation, and Society: The Life and Work of H.J. Muller. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Divine, R. (1978). Blowing on the Wind: The Nuclear Test Ban Debate, 1954-1960. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Dobzhansky, T. (1937). Genetics and the Origin of Species. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Dobzhansky, T. (1955). “A Review of Some Fundamental Concepts and Problems of Population Genetics.” Cold Spring Harbor Symposia on Quantitative Biology 20: 1–15.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gilbert, G. and Mulkay, M.. (1984). Opening Pandora's Box: A Sociological Analysis of Scientists' Discourse. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Gilbert, M. (1987). “Modeling Collective Belief”. Synthese 73(1): 185–204.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gilbert, M. (1996). “More on Collective Belief.” In Gilbert, Living Together: Rationality, Sociality, and Obligation, pp. 339–360. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield.Google Scholar
Goldman, A. (2001). “Experts: Which Ones Should You Trust?” Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 63 (1): 85–110.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gutmann, A. and Thompson, D.. (2004). Why Deliberative Democracy? Princeton: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kopp, C. (1979). “The Origins of the American Scientific Debate over Fallout Hazards.” Social Studies of Science 9: 402–22.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lang, D. ([1955] 1959). “Fallout.” In Lang, From Hiroshima to the Moon: Chronicles of Life in the Atomic Age, pp. 365–482. New York: Simon and Schuster.Google Scholar
Longino, H. (1990). Science as Social Knowledge. Princeton: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Muller, H. (1950). “Our Load of Mutations.” American Journal of Human Genetics 2: 111–76.Google ScholarPubMed
U.S. National Academies of Science. (1956a). “Proceedings: Conference on Genetics.” U.S. National Academies of Science Archives, Accession COM: NAS: Coms on BEAR: Genetic Meetings: Transcript.Google Scholar
U.S. National Academies of Science. (1956b). The Biological Effects of Atomic Radiation. Summary Reports. Washington, DC: National Academy of Sciences – National Research Council.Google Scholar
Stern, C. (1956). “Genetics in the Atomic Age”. Eugenics Quarterly 3: 131–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Strauss, L.(1955). “The Truth about Radioactive Fall-Out.” US News and World Report, 25 February 1955, pp. 35–8.Google Scholar
United States Atomic Energy Commission (1954). “Statement by Lewis. L. Strauss, Chairman, United States Atomic Energy Commission.” USAEC Release, 31 March.Google Scholar
United States Atomic Energy Commission (1955). “A Report by the United States Atomic Energy Commission on the Effects of High-Yield Nuclear Explosions.” USAEC Release, 15 February.Google Scholar
Wright, S. (1931). “Evolution in Mendelian Populations.” Genetics 16: 97–159.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wright, S. (1955). “Classification of the Factors of Evolution.” Cold Spring Harbor Symposia on Quantitative Biology 20: 16–24.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed