1-2: Definition of Law I. What is Law? II. Defining Law: Moral Approaches A. Law is an expression of a common moral order on which there is a general consensus (Hayden, 2018) 1. Universal, Common B. Jean Jacques Rousseau 1. Morality exists outside the law; the law attempts to embody moral values but does not always succeed C. Henry David Thorough 1. People can and should disobey the law on the basis of moral principles III. Defining Law: Jurisprudence Approaches A. Traditional legal definitions 1. A principle rule of conduct so established as to justify a prediction with reasonable certainty that it will be enforced by the courts of its authority is challenged (Cardozo, 1924, p.52) 2. The prophecies of what the courts will do, in fact, and nothing more pretentious, are what I mean by the law (Holmes, 1897, 0. 461) B. Approaches law as science — “the science of law” C. Law should be consist, orderly ,logical D. Law should be independent of religious, ideological, political beliefs E. Rational, logical, fair IV. Defining Law: Sociological Approaches A. More scholarship has gone into defining and explaining law than any other concept in sociology 1. Most broadly: A form, or type, of social control (Davis, 1962) 2. Social Control: Attempts by states, organizations, and individuals to regulate human behavior B. Max Weber 1. An order will be called a law if it is externally guaranteer by the probability that coercion, physical or psychological, to bring about conformity or avenge violation, will be applied by a staff of people holding themselves especially ready for that purpose (1947, p.127) a) Pressure to comply must be external b) External actions or threats involve force c) People exist to enforce the law 2. Distinguished law from customs/folkways, conventions/more: a) Customs: rules of conduct that are followed with minimum thinking (1) Sumner — folkways (habits of a group) b) Conventions: rules of conduct that involve a sense of duty or obligation, but lack coercive power (1) Sumner — mores C. Donald Black 1. Law is essentially governmental social control 2. [Law is] the normative life of a state and its citizens, such as legislation, litigation, and adjudication (Black, 1976, p.2) 3. Several styles of law can exist in any society: a) Accusatory Styles (1) Penal: The deviant is a violator of a prohibition and an offender to be subjected to condemnation and punishment (2) Compensatory: a person is considered to have a contractual obligation, and therefore owes the victim restitution b) Remedial Styles (1) Therapeutic: the deviant’s conduct is defined as abnormal; the person needs help (a) Having mental health issues, such as PTSD (2) Conciliatory: the deviant behavior is one side of a social conflict in need of resolution with no right or wrong c) More than one style may appear in any conflict D. Law as a social construction 1. Results from human interaction 2. Take place within broader contexts of our culture, language, economy, politics, etc. 3. Create laws to address social problems, settle disputes, exert power 4. Varies from place to place, time period to time period E. Main focus is social: 1. How does law affect social action? 2. How does law affect people’s beliefs and behaviors? 3. How do we organize our legal institutions? 4. How is law created? 5. Who does law serve? 6. Who is affected by law? 7. Who has access to law? V. Defining Law: Comparing Approaches A. Sociological Jurisprudence 1. Roscoe Pound a) “The law must be stable, but must not stand still” (1922, p. 19). b) The law is a dynamic, ever-changing system influenced by social forces, which in turn influence the larger society (Hayden, 2018). c) Underage Drinking VI. Defining Law: Other Definitions A. System of rules and regulations B. Forum for value inquiry C. Regime for the resolution of conflict D. Reflection of popular will E. Institution to preserve inequality VII.Defining Law A. What do these definitions have in common? 1. Paramount function of law is to regulate and constrain behavior 2. Formal system with specific rules of conduct 3. Guide for action or inaction 4. Without interpretation/enforcement, law would remain meaningless B. Working definition (Hayden, 2018): a body of norms and rules that regulate the actions and interactions of individuals, groups, and societies. 2-1: Problems with Definitions of Law, Rule of Law I. Parable of the map II. The Problem with a Definition of Law A. What is said to e wise rules out what could be important B. Once we reach a definition, events may be shaped to fit the definition 1. Does this close us to possibilities that disrupt our definition? 2. What limitations might this create in understanding law? 3. How might we try to account for this? C. The benefits of many definitions D. Your initial map III. Other Questions A. Where did law come from? B. What is law based on? C. Who does the law serve? D. What does the law accomplish? E. How does the social construction of law result in variation in law across societies? IV. Rule of Law A. One of the most important defining characteristics of democracy B. One of the most important defining characteristics of democracy C. “The laws apply equally to everyone in a democracy, even the most powerful government officials and elected leaders. It also means that laws are created through a predetermined, open, and transparent process, not by a whim of the most powerful members of society” D. Rule of law was codified Western European government in the Magna Carta (1215), to limit the King’s powers to arbitrarily arrest or imprison citizens E. “No free man shall be taken, imprisoned, disseized, outlawed, or banished, or in any way destroyed, nor will he proceed against or prosecute him, except by the lawful judgment of his peers and the Law of the Land” F. Thomas Paine, Common Sense, 1776 G. Discussion Questions: 1. But where says some is the king of America? I’ll tell you Friend, he reigns above, and doth not make havoc of mankind like the Royal of Britain....in American THE LAW IS KING. For 2. 3. 4. 5. as in absolute governments the King is law, so in free countries the law ought to be king; and there ought to be no other. But lest any ill use should afterwards arise, let the crown at the conclusion of the ceremony be demolished, and scattered among the people whose right it? How does Carey define the rule of law? Which ideas from the Magna Carta and Common Sense did you here reflected here? Summarize the story Carey tells about his travel to Chile. Why does he use that story to describe the rule of law? How is the rule of law related to the protection of human rights? How might an absence of rule of law lead to violations of human rights? Why does Carey suggest it is difficult to identify when the rule of law is being violated at the moment it is happening? What does he say makes it hard to recognize when democracy is being eroded? 3-1: Ways of Thinking I. Overview A. Ways of Thinking 1. Tenacity a) Unquestioned belief b) Most primitive method of believing something is true c) Holding on to an idea or a tradition without evaluation 2. Epistemology a) Are of philosophy concerned with understanding the nature of knowledge and belief b) Understanding how we come to know something is the case Studying ‘how we know what we know’ c) Understand the strengths and weaknesses of various ways of knowing d) Make the commitment to public reasoning 3. Intuition a) “Gut” reaction, feeling about a phenomenon b) “Subjective hunch or feeling that something is correct” (Privitera, 2017). (1) Without acting on the institution, we do not know if the knowledge is accurate. 4. Common Sense a) “Everybody knows that…” b) Common sense is often contradictory or unhelpful 5. Authority a) The “expert” effect 6. Experience a) Small sample sizes b) Subjective/uncontrolled 7. Logic/Rationalism a) Using logic and reasoning to arrive at beliefs b) If A = B, and B = C, then A = C c) Faulty Cause – Effect d) Either or arguments 8. Science a) “...it is necessary that a method should be found by which our beliefs may be determined by nothing human, but by some external permanency – by something upon which our thinking has no effect....the method must be such that the ultimate conclusion of every [person] shall be the same. Such is the method of science. Its fundamental hypothesis...is this: There are real things, whose characters are entirely independent of our opinions about them” (Peirce, 1877) b) Allows for built in self correction (1) Tests alternative plausible hypotheses Replicate findings (2) Testing procedures open to public inspection c) Designed to instill ‘objectivity’ (1) A theory is something other than myself (Polanyi) d) Goal of science is theory e) Limitations of Science (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) Limitations of sample, place/culture Are we objective? What do we study? How do we study it? Quality of science What we want v. what we can say 1/7/2021 Rule of Law and Democracy: Addressing the Gap Between Policies and Practices | United Nations UN Chronicle (/en/chronicle) Rule of Law and Democracy: Addressing the Gap Between Policies and Practices T he Declaration adopted on 24 September 2012 by the United Nations General Assembly at the High-level Meeting on the Rule of Law at the National and International Levels reaffirmed that "human rights, the rule of law and democracy are interlinked and mutually reinforcing and that they belong to the universal and indivisible core values and principles of the United Nations".1 Indeed, government responsiveness to the interests and needs of the greatest number of citizens is strictly associated with the capacity of democratic institutions and processes to bolster the dimensions of rights, equality and accountability. About the author Massimo Tommasoli Massimo Tommasoli is Permanent Observer for the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA) to the United Nations. If considered not solely an instrument of the government but as a rule to which the entire society, including the government, is bound, the rule of law is fundamental in advancing democracy. Strengthening the rule of law has to be approached not only by focusing on the application of norms and procedures. One must also emphasize its fundamental role in protecting rights and advancing inclusiveness, in this way framing the protection of rights within the broader discourse on human development. A common feature of both democracy and the rule of law is that a purely institutional approach does not say anything about actual outcomes of processes and procedures, even if the latter are formally correct. When addressing the rule of law and democracy nexus, a fundamental distinction has to be drawn between "rule by law", whereby law is an instrument of government and government is considered above the law, and "rule of law", which implies that everyone in society is bound by the law, including the government. Essentially, constitutional limits on power, a key feature of democracy, require adherence to the rule of law. Another key dimension of the rule of law-democracy nexus is the recognition that building democracy and the rule of law may be convergent and mutually reinforcing processes whenever the rule of law is defined in broad, ends-based terms rather than in narrow, formal and exclusively procedural terms. The nexus is strong whenever the rule of law is conceived in its relationship with substantive outcomes, like justice and democratic governance. This distinction is often characterized by resorting to the opposition between "thin" and "thick" conceptions of the rule of law. Formal and substantive notions are certainly related and some scholars argue against a thin/thick dichotomy, suggesting that, in situations of social and political change, both formal and substantive features of the rule of law may be "thinner" or "thicker". However, in general terms, a focus on "thin" definitions places emphasis on the procedures through which rules are formulated and applied, whereas "thick" definitions aim to protect rights and frame it within broader human development discourse. A "thick" definition delineates positively the rule of law as incorporating such elements as a strong constitution, an effective electoral system, a commitment to gender equality, laws for the protection of minorities and other vulnerable groups and a strong civil society. The rule of law, defended by an independent judiciary, plays a crucial function by ensuring that civil and political rights and civil liberties are safe and that the equality and dignity of all citizens are not at risk. It also helps protect the effective performance of the various agencies of electoral, societal and horizontal accountability from potential obstructions and intimidation by powerful State actors. This "thick" definition of the rule of law differs from "thinner" definitions that place emphasis on the procedures through which rules are formulated and applied. Examples of the tenets within a "thick" definition were provided by the then United Nations Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, in his 2004 reports on the rule of law. Mr. Annan stressed that, for the United Nations, the rule of law is: https://www.un.org/en/chronicle/article/rule-law-and-democracy-addressing-gap-between-policies-and-practices 1/5 1/7/2021 Rule of Law and Democracy: Addressing the Gap Between Policies and Practices | United Nations (...) a principle of governance in which all persons, institutions and entities, public and private, including the State itself, are accountable to laws that are publicly promulgated, equally enforced and independently adjudicated, and which are consistent with international human rights norms and standards. It requires as well measures to ensure adherence to the principles of supremacy of the law, equality before the law, accountability to the law, fairness in the application of the law, separation of powers, participation in decision-making, legal certainty, avoidance of arbitrariness, and procedural and legal transparency.2 Referring to this definition in his 2009 Guidance Note on Democracy, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon added that the United Nations provides expertise and support to "the development of legislation and the strengthening of, in particular, legislative, executive and judicial institutions under such principles to ensure that they have the capacity, resources and necessary independence to play their respective roles".3 Over the years, the United Nations has fostered the rule of law at the international level through the consolidation and development of an international framework of norms and standards, the establishment of international and hybrid courts and tribunals and non-judicial mechanisms. It has refined its framework for engagement in the rule of law sector at the national level through the provision of assistance in constitution making; the national legal framework; institutions of justice, governance, security and human rights; transitional justice; and the strengthening of civil society.4 The 2008 Guidance Note of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Approach to Rule of Law Assistance provided overarching principles and a framework for guiding United Nations rule of law activities at the national level. Furthermore, his 2009 Guidance Note on United Nations Assistance to Constitution-making Processes outlined the components of constitution-making processes and recognized that such processes are a central aspect of democratic transitions. A practical example of the importance of the rule of law for democracy building is the fact that the rule of law is a fundamental principle embraced in most modern democracies. Constitutions contain the fundamental and, most often, supreme law of the State, and the rule of law dictates the enforcement of those principles above all other laws. Constitutions also preserve fundamental principles and values by making the process of amendment burdensome. Some constitutions ensure the permanence of certain principles and values by prohibiting amendments. The judiciary, which applies the law to individual cases, acts as the guardian of the rule of law. Thus, an independent and properly functioning judiciary is a prerequisite for the rule of law which requires a just legal system, the right to a fair hearing and access to justice.5 Constitutions do much more than establish a government and regulate its relationships with citizens. In many countries, they have also become crisis management tools. The benefits of constitutions designed for conflict-affected and deeply divided States hinge on their ability to reconcile groups, to address intolerable grievances and to prevent further polarization and conflict deterioration. Also in this area, national ownership is of the utmost importance. The choice of process should be left to national constitution builders who are able to prevail in the local context. Constitutional design suited to the requirements of managing conflict has had some degree of success. At the same time, other factors such as economic inequality are increasingly important determinants in new demands for constitution building. Electoral justice provides another example of the linkages between democracy and the rule of law. Electoral justice ensures that every action, procedure and decision related to the electoral process is in line with the law and that the enjoyment of electoral rights is protected and restored, giving people who believe their electoral rights have been violated the ability to file a complaint, get a hearing and receive an adjudication. An electoral justice system is a key instrument of the rule of law and the ultimate guarantee of compliance with the democratic principle of holding free, fair and genuine elections.6 As noted in a recent report7 of the Global Commission on Democracy, Elections and Security, elections with integrity—based on political equality, transparency and accountability—are crucial for human rights and democratic principles, as they give life to rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and other international human rights instruments and covenants.8 One of the main challenges to elections with integrity consists of building the rule of law to substantiate claims to human rights and electoral justice so that citizens, including political competitors and those in opposition, have legal redress to exercise their election-related rights.9 During negotiations on the General Assembly's Declaration on the Rule of Law, some Member States referred to the need for the international community to assist and support countries emerging from conflict or undergoing democratization, upon their request, as they may face special challenges in addressing legacies of human rights violations during their transition and in moving towards democratic governance and the rule of law. The concept was eventually reformulated in paragraph 18 by referring only to the special challenges of transitions with no mention of democratization. However, this debate has shown a growing awareness of the importance of building on the experience over the last 30 years, particularly from the Global South, of multiple and often simultaneous transitions—from war to peace, from command to market economies, from autocratic to democratic systems—to support home-grown democratization processes. Paragraph 7 of the General Assembly Declaration on the Rule of Law called for the consideration of a strong rule of law perspective in the post-2015 international development agenda. The ongoing debate on the post-2015 perspectives provides a unique opportunity to stress the interlinkages between democracy, human rights and the rule of law. To ensure domestic accountability within democratic ownership frameworks, it is essential to take into account both the democracy and rule of law dimensions of the next generation of Millennium Development Goals/Sustainable Development Goals and the potential value of a voluntary goal on democracy, human rights and the rule of law to help drive the development agenda. Notes 1 See para. 5 in "Declaration of the High-level Meeting of the General Assembly on the Rule of Law at the National and International Levels" (A/67/L.1), 19 September 2012, available athttp://unrol.org/files/Official%20Draft%20Resolution.pdf (http://unrol.org/files/Official%20Draft%20Resolution.pdf). 2 The "rule of law and transitional justice in conflict and post-conflict societies", 23 August 2004 (S/2004/616), para. 6, recalled in "Delivering justice: programme of action to strengthen the rule of law at the national and international levels", 16 March 2012 (A/66/749), para. 2, available at http://www.unrol.org/files/SGreport%20eng%20A_66_749.pdf (http://www.unrol.org/files/SGreport%20eng%20A_66_749.pdf). 3 See the Guidance Note of the Secretary-General on Democracy available at http://www.un.org/democracyfund/guidance-note-un-secretary-general-democracy (http://www.un.org/democracyfund/guidance-note-un-secretary-general-democracy). 4 "Strengthening and coordinating United Nations rule of law activities" (A/66/133), 8 August 2011. 5 International IDEA, A Practical Guide to Constitution Building: Principles and Cross-cutting Themes, Stockholm 2012, pp. 17-18, available at http://www.idea.int/publications/pgcb/ (http://www.idea.int/publications/pgcb/). 6 International IDEA, Electoral Justice: The International IDEA Handbook, Stockholm 2010, p. 9, available at http://www.idea.int/publications/electoral_justice/ (http://www.idea.int/publications/electoral_justice/). 7 Global Commission on Elections, Democracy and Security, Deepening Democracy: A Strategy for Improving the Integrity of Elections Worldwide, A joint initiative of the Kofi Annan Foundation and International IDEA, September 2012, available at http://www.global-commission.org/sites/global-commission.org/files/DeepeningDemocracyFinalReport.pdf (http://www.global-commission.org/sites/global-commission.org/files/DeepeningDemocracyFinalReport.pdf). 8 Elections with integrity matter in many other tangible ways: empowering women, fighting corruption, delivering services to the poor, improving governance and ending civil wars. 9 Other challenges are: building professional, competent election management bodies; creating institutions and norms of multiparty competition and division of power; removing barriers to universal and equal political participation; and regulating uncontrolled, undisclosed and opaque political finance. https://www.un.org/en/chronicle/article/rule-law-and-democracy-addressing-gap-between-policies-and-practices 2/5 1/7/2021 Rule of Law and Democracy: Addressing the Gap Between Policies and Practices | United Nations (/en/increasing-youth-participation-climate-action) ANTHONY OYAKHILOME JUSTICE Increasing Youth Participation in Climate Action (/en/increasing-youth-participation-climate-action) Young people, who constitute the majority of the population in many countries, are becoming a driving force in pursuing a low-carbon and climate-resilient future. (/en/un-chronicle/2020-covid-19-and-climate-agenda) PATRICIA ESPINOSA CANTELLANO 2020, COVID-19 and the Climate Agenda (/en/un-chronicle/2020-covid-19-and-climate-agenda) https://www.un.org/en/chronicle/article/rule-law-and-democracy-addressing-gap-between-policies-and-practices 3/5 1/7/2021 Rule of Law and Democracy: Addressing the Gap Between Policies and Practices | United Nations This most difficult and even overwhelming year has served to remind us of our ultimate dependence on the physical environment. It has confirmed the value of science as our most reliable instrument to understand and to overcome natural threats. It has proved that cooperation is the only way to address challenges that transcend borders. 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That's epistemology Academic rigor, journalistic flair How can you justify your knowledge? Epistemology has a few answers. Flickr/World's Direction How do you know that what you know is true? That’s epistemology August 3, 2017 4.16pm EDT How do you know what the weather will be like tomorrow? How do you know how Author old the Universe is? How do you know if you are thinking rationally? These and other questions of the “how do you know?” variety are the business of epistemology, the area of philosophy concerned with understanding the nature of knowledge and belief. Peter Ellerton Lecturer in Critical Thinking, Director of the UQ Critical Thinking Project, The University Epistemology is about understanding how we come to know that something is the of Queensland case, whether it be a matter of fact such as “the Earth is warming” or a matter of value such as “people should not just be treated as means to particular ends”. It’s even about interrogating the odd presidential tweet to determine its credibility. Read more: Facts are not always more important than opinions: here's why Epistemology doesn’t just ask questions about what we should do to find things out; that is the task of all disciplines to some extent. For example, science, history and anthropology all have their own methods for finding things out. https://theconversation.com/how-do-you-know-that-what-you-know-is-true-thats-epistemology-63884 1/8 9/4/2020 How do you know that what you know is true? That's epistemology Epistemology has the job of making those methods themselves the objects of study. It aims to understand how methods of inquiry can be seen as rational endeavours. Epistemology, therefore, is concerned with the justification of knowledge claims. The need for epistemology Whatever the area in which we work, some people imagine that beliefs about the world are formed mechanically from straightforward reasoning, or that they pop into existence fully formed as a result of clear and distinct perceptions of the world. But if the business of knowing things was so simple, we’d all agree on a bunch of things that we currently disagree about – such as how to treat each other, what value to place on the environment, and the optimal role of government in a society. That we do not reach such an agreement means there is something wrong with that model of belief formation. We don’t all agree on everything. Flickr/Frank, CC BY-NC It is interesting that we individually tend to think of ourselves as clear thinkers and see those who disagree with us as misguided. We imagine that the impressions we have about the world come to us unsullied and unfiltered. We think we have the capacity to see things just as they really are, and that it is others who have confused perceptions. As a result, we might think our job is simply to point out where other people have gone wrong in their thinking, rather than to engage in rational dialogue allowing for the possibility that we might actually be wrong. https://theconversation.com/how-do-you-know-that-what-you-know-is-true-thats-epistemology-63884 2/8 9/4/2020 How do you know that what you know is true? That's epistemology But the lessons of philosophy, psychology and cognitive science teach us otherwise. The complex, organic processes that fashion and guide our reasoning are not so clinically pure. Not only are we in the grip of a staggeringly complex array of cognitive biases and dispositions, but we are generally ignorant of their role in our thinking and decision-making. Combine this ignorance with the conviction of our own epistemic superiority, and you can begin to see the magnitude of the problem. Appeals to “common sense” to overcome the friction of alternative views just won’t cut it. We need, therefore, a systematic way of interrogating our own thinking, our models of rationality, and our own sense of what makes for a good reason. It can be used as a more objective standard for assessing the merit of claims made in the public arena. This is precisely the job of epistemology. Epistemology and critical thinking One of the clearest ways to understand critical thinking is as applied epistemology. Issues such as the nature of logical inference, why we should accept one line of reasoning over another, and how we understand the nature of evidence and its contribution to decision making, are all decidedly epistemic concerns. Just because people use logic doesn’t mean they are using it well. The American philosopher Harvey Siegel points out that these questions and others are essential in an education towards thinking critically. By what criteria do we evaluate reasons? How are those criteria themselves evaluated? What is it for a belief or action to be justified? What is the relationship between justification https://theconversation.com/how-do-you-know-that-what-you-know-is-true-thats-epistemology-63884 3/8 9/4/2020 How do you know that what you know is true? That's epistemology and truth? […] these epistemological considerations are fundamental to an adequate understanding of critical thinking and should be explicitly treated in basic critical thinking courses. To the extent that critical thinking is about analysing and evaluating methods of inquiry and assessing the credibility of resulting claims, it is an epistemic endeavour. Engaging with deeper issues about the nature of rational persuasion can also help us to make judgements about claims even without specialist knowledge. For example, epistemology can help clarify concepts such as “proof”, “theory”, “law” and “hypothesis” that are generally poorly understood by the general public and indeed some scientists. In this way, epistemology serves not to adjudicate on the credibility of science, but to better understand its strengths and limitations and hence make scientific knowledge more accessible. Epistemology and the public good One of the enduring legacies of the Enlightenment, the intellectual movement that began in Europe during the 17th century, is a commitment to public reason. This was the idea that it’s not enough to state your position, you must also provide a rational case for why others should stand with you. In other words, to produce and prosecute an argument. Read more: How to teach all students to think critically This commitment provides for, or at least makes possible, an objective method of assessing claims using epistemological criteria that we can all have a say in forging. That we test each others’ thinking and collaboratively arrive at standards of epistemic credibility lifts the art of justification beyond the limitations of individual minds, and grounds it in the collective wisdom of reflective and effective communities of inquiry. The sincerity of one’s belief, the volume or frequency with which it is stated, or assurances to “believe me” should not be rationally persuasive by themselves. https://theconversation.com/how-do-you-know-that-what-you-know-is-true-thats-epistemology-63884 4/8 9/4/2020 How do you know that what you know is true? That's epistemology Simple appeals to believe have no place in public life. If a particular claim does not satisfy publicly agreed epistemological criteria, then it is the essence of scepticism to suspend belief. And it is the essence of gullibility to surrender to it. A defence against bad thinking There is a way to help guard against poor reasoning – ours and others’ – that draws from not only the Enlightenment but also from the long history of philosophical inquiry. So the next time you hear a contentious claim from someone, consider how that claim can be supported if they or you were to present it to an impartial or disinterested person: identify reasons that can be given in support of the claim explain how your analysis, evaluation and justification of the claim and of the reasoning involved are of a standard worth someone’s intellectual investment write these things down as clearly and dispassionately as possible. In other words, make the commitment to public reasoning. And demand of others that they do so as well, stripped of emotive terms and biased framing. If you or they cannot provide a precise and coherent chain of reasoning, or if the reasons remain tainted with clear biases, or if you give up in frustration, it’s a pretty good sign that there are other factors in play. It is the commitment to this epistemic process, rather than any specific outcome, that is the valid ticket onto the rational playing field. At a time when political rhetoric is riven with irrationality, when knowledge is being seen less as a means of understanding the world and more as an encumbrance that can be pushed aside if it stands in the way of wishful thinking, and when authoritarian leaders are drawing ever larger crowds, epistemology needs to matter.  Knowledge Philosophy Critical Thinking Epistemology Critical thinking skills Support our coronavirus coverage This new and deadly pathogen is confusing enough for medical and scientific experts to understand. For the public, it’s even more so. At The Conversation, my https://theconversation.com/how-do-you-know-that-what-you-know-is-true-thats-epistemology-63884 5/8 9/4/2020 How do you know that what you know is true? That's epistemology colleagues and I are dedicated to finding academic experts who can best sort through the confusion and explain developing coronavirus science. Your donation of $5, $50 or $500 will help us distribute factual, responsible analysis, free of charge, to readers everywhere. Donate now Lynne Anderson Senior Editor, Health + Medicine You might also like The Knowledge City Index: Sydney takes top spot but Canberra punches above its weight https://theconversation.com/how-do-you-know-that-what-you-know-is-true-thats-epistemology-63884 6/8 9/4/2020 How do you know that what you know is true? That's epistemology Why the US doesn’t understand Chinese thought – and must How an obscure Austrian philosopher saw through our empty rhetoric about ‘sustainability’ https://theconversation.com/how-do-you-know-that-what-you-know-is-true-thats-epistemology-63884 7/8 9/4/2020 How do you know that what you know is true? That's epistemology Could an African passport bring to life the dreams of Nkrumah, Senghor and Touré? https://theconversation.com/how-do-you-know-that-what-you-know-is-true-thats-epistemology-63884 8/8 9/7/2021 How philosophy is making me a better scientist CAREER COLUMN 23 April 2021 How philosophy is making me a better scientist Rasha Shraim’s education helped her to think more deeply about ethics, logic and other big questions. Rasha Shraim https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-01103-x?fbclid=IwAR0jS5ldlNmLBiZPf7g_GQpKvBtVJjhNe-ytF2gZjN1D42IK0KxHk9w0wKo 1/7 9/7/2021 Credit: Gabriel Bouys/AFP/Getty How philosophy is making me a better scientist I am the only student on my PhD programme in genomics data science with an undergraduate degree in biology and philosophy. Initially, I saw these as separate fields: I was writing about theories of morality in one class and memorizing the Krebs cycle in another. It was only after picking up first-hand research experience while working on my final-year biology thesis at New York University Abu Dhabi that I began to understand how philosophy can make me a better scientist. As I progress through the early stages of my PhD, I can see how impactful reading and studying philosophy have been in shaping my career so far, and how much they will continue to influence me in my future work. Philosophy has expanded my critical and creative thinking. Philosophical arguments often lead to imaginative edge cases and a dive into hypotheticals, which I frequently find creatively stimulating. For my philosophy thesis, for example, I wrote about the metaphysics of identity, the Ship of Theseus (a thought experiment that questions whether an object that has had all of its components replaced remains fundamentally the same object), general relativity and some of the philosophical implications of time travel. Thinking creatively while maintaining a critical and methodical approach carried over into my research. For example, studying instrumentalism — the philosophical idea that science does not uncover fundamental truths about the world, but merely provides us with tools to help us navigate it — helped me to adopt a more fluid approach to research and look for useful tools wherever I could find them. One thing I’ve done is to repurpose ‘contamination’ in an organism’s sequencing data so that I could look for viruses in its blood. RELATED I also learnt logic. Most of us have a foundational understanding in this area — but, as a philosophy student, I was required to take a structured course in logic. At the start, it was like taking a class in brain-teaser puzzles: A∨B https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-01103-x?fbclid=IwAR0jS5ldlNmLBiZPf7g_GQpKvBtVJjhNe-ytF2gZjN1D42IK0KxHk9w0wKo 2/7 9/7/2021 How philosophy is making me a better scientist is true if both A and B are true; A∧B is true if either A or B is true. But my study of formal logic turned out to be very helpful in my transition from a wet-lab undergraduate scientist to Keeping two journals has made me a better scientist a computational scientist on my master’s programme as I learnt coding languages, which involve elements such as logical operators and if-then reasoning. It also helped me to understand inference, the process of arriving at conclusions from evidence and reasoning. None of my science classes has formally taught the difference between induction (these frogs are all from this pond and they are all green: therefore all of the frogs in the pond are green) and deduction (all frogs in this pond are green and this frog is from this pond: therefore this frog is green), nor have any of them taught how to methodically evaluate arguments. Reading, studying and evaluating philosophical arguments as premises and conclusions has shaped my ability to scrutinize evidence and conclusions in research reports. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-01103-x?fbclid=IwAR0jS5ldlNmLBiZPf7g_GQpKvBtVJjhNe-ytF2gZjN1D42IK0KxHk9w0wKo 3/7 9/7/2021 How philosophy is making me a better scientist Philosophical arguments have often led Rasha Shraim to explore creatively stimulating edge cases, she says. Credit: Devin Quinn Beyond methods and data, philosophy pushed me to inwardly and outwardly examine the values and ethics behind science. Researchers are human, and our subjectivity and values inevitably influence our work. We might discuss glaring historical examples of unethical experiments or rogue scientists, such as He Jiankui and the gene-edited babies. But we rarely teach and discuss how everyday choices of everyday scientists can have serious ethical impacts: choices of colours on published figures; genotyping only populations of European descent; researching vulnerable groups without offering protection or help; or even the questions that we choose to pursue. Studying philosophy taught me to take both grand and smaller choices seriously. RELATED https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-01103-x?fbclid=IwAR0jS5ldlNmLBiZPf7g_GQpKvBtVJjhNe-ytF2gZjN1D42IK0KxHk9w0wKo 4/7 9/7/2021 How philosophy is making me a better scientist Through philosophy, big questions grew familiar and it became easier to ask them in everyday life. During my PhD programme, I took a class on Mendelian randomization (a genetics research method that aims to identify modifiable risk factors for diseases), and we discussed how Collection: the PhD socioeconomic factors need to be accounted for statistically. I wanted to push this discussion past methodology, so I asked: if socioeconomic factors are significant predictors of health outcomes, why not divert medical research funding directly to food programmes, or schools, or income support, to fix medical problems before they occur? In thinking through such challenges, I form a clearer idea of my motivation and goals in genetic health research, and of which opportunities I should pursue. Rather than being driven only by scientific curiosity, I’ve found my motivation stemming from a desire to influence the world in a positive way. If it can help us to think critically about science and our goals, and to recognize that scientific progress is rooted in creative philosophical enquiry, and if it can prompt us to ask important questions, then I think we could all benefit from reading more philosophy. Philosophy resources for scientists Logic and inference. Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, offers an introductory online course in logic and critical thinking that covers the basics of argumentation, including induction and deduction. These concepts are useful in evaluating other people’s reasoning, and in building your own sound arguments. For more in-depth material on formal logic and its semantics, try this free textbook: An Introduction to Formal Logic, by P. D. Magnus (Fecundity, 2012); or Introduction to Logic, a free online course designed to accompany a book of the same name by Paul Herrick (Oxford Univ. Press, 2012). https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-01103-x?fbclid=IwAR0jS5ldlNmLBiZPf7g_GQpKvBtVJjhNe-ytF2gZjN1D42IK0KxHk9w0wKo 5/7 9/7/2021 How philosophy is making me a better scientist Philosophy of science. Theory and Reality: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Science, by Peter Godfrey-Smith (Univ. Chicago Press, 2003), provides an introduction to the subject aimed at general readers. It covers key thinkers in the area, including Thomas Kuhn, who wrote The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, and Karl Popper, who wrote The Logic of Scientific Discovery. Other titles in the field include The Fate of Knowledge by Helen Longino (Princeton Univ. Press, 2001), and Exceeding Our Grasp: Science, History, and the Problem of Unconceived Alternatives by Kyle Stanford (Oxford Univ. Press, 2006). Ethics. For a general introduction to the field of ethics, read Plato’s The Republic or Aristotle’s Ethics, or try The Metaphysics of Morals by Immanuel Kant or Utilitarianism by John Stuart Mill. These provide a historical perspective and broad frameworks of ethics and morality. Applied Ethics by Peter Singer (Oxford Univ. Press, 1986) aims to ground theory in a wide range of practical situations. Although it starts out intuitively, ethics quickly becomes complex; the best option is to seek out specialized material (for example, I am taking a workshop on ethical considerations in biomedical ‘big data’). General notes. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy is a great and reliable online resource for exploring philosophical terms and concepts, and has entries on the philosophy of particular scientific subfields, such as the philosophy of cell biology. My background, and therefore my suggestions, are mainly rooted in the Western tradition, but I aim to continue diversifying my education. doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-01103-x This is an article from the Nature Careers Community, a place for Nature readers to share their professional experiences and advice. Guest posts are encouraged. Latest on: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-01103-x?fbclid=IwAR0jS5ldlNmLBiZPf7g_GQpKvBtVJjhNe-ytF2gZjN1D42IK0KxHk9w0wKo 6/7 9/7/2021 Philosophy Ethics Careers How philosophy is making me a better scientist Chilean polymath Humberto Maturana remembered How a holistic research retreat can help our science CORRESPONDENCE | 08 JUN 21 CAREER COLUMN | 08 JUL 21 Can lab-grown brains become conscious? NEWS FEATURE | 27 OCT 20 Nature (Nature) ISSN 1476-4687 (online) ISSN 0028-0836 (print) © 2021 Springer Nature Limited https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-01103-x?fbclid=IwAR0jS5ldlNmLBiZPf7g_GQpKvBtVJjhNe-ytF2gZjN1D42IK0KxHk9w0wKo 7/7
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