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31Mar

Popper Seminar by Azita Chellappoo (Open University)

Hosted by the Department of Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method
In Person at LAK 2.06, Lakatos Building London, WC2A 2AE United Kingdom. Online (Via Zoom)
Tuesday 31 March 2026 2pm - 3.30pm

Title: Bias, Values, and the New Demarcation Problem: Lessons from ‘Obesity’ Science

Abstract: Given increasing consensus that science is inevitably value-laden, the values in science debate has shifted towards the new demarcation problem: the question of how to demarcate legitimate from illegitimate roles for values in science. I examine scientific research around ‘obesity’ as a case where systematic biases exist in (i) the relevant scientific communities and (ii) the broader public, and where those biases produce characteristic distortions in inquiry, presenting a challenge for many existing demarcation strategies. Additionally, recommendations that scientists openly or explicitly engage with social or ethical values may, in practice, further these biasing effects in ‘obesity’ science, rather than remedy them. I suggest that, at least in this case and structurally similar cases, illegitimate roles for non-epistemic values are most readily identified via their impingement on the expression of epistemic values, and corrective interventions will be most effective when they are brought on epistemic grounds.

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