Science and Bias
People often appeal to science as an antidote of sorts to propaganda and misinformation,
as well as to individual biases and politically motivated interpretations. Yet history
of science and current practice reveal that scientific work involves not just logic
and mathematics, but narratives, too -- and models, interpretation of images, and
analogical reasoning. Are these not ever likewise susceptible to faulty stereotypes,
neglect of relevant observations, and biases in interpretation? If not, why not?
If so, what can be done?
Susan G. Sterrett is the Curtis D. Gridley Distinguished Professor of History and
Philosophy of Science, and teaches courses on history and philosophy of science.
She has published works on the design and use of models in science, on logic in philosophy
of science, on philosophy of artificial intelligence, and on analogy in the works of Darwin, Mach, Einstein, and Turing. In 2017 she was elected
a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and is an elected
member of Sigma Xi, the Scientific Research Honor Society.
Susan G. Sterrett