An exploration of the scientific mindset-such character virtues as
curiosity, veracity, attentiveness, and humility to evidence-and
its importance for science, democracy, and human flourishing.
Exemplary scientists have a characteristic way of viewing the world
and their work: their mindset and methods all aim at discovering
truths about nature. In An Instinct for Truth, Robert Pennock
explores this scientific mindset and argues that what Charles
Darwin called "an instinct for truth, knowledge, and discovery" has
a tacit moral structure-that it is important not only for
scientific excellence and integrity but also for democracy and
human flourishing. In an era of "post-truth," the scientific drive
to discover empirical truths has a special value. Taking a
virtue-theoretic perspective, Pennock explores curiosity, veracity,
skepticism, humility to evidence, and other scientific virtues and
vices. He explains that curiosity is the most distinctive element
of the scientific character, by which other norms are shaped;
discusses the passionate nature of scientific attentiveness; and
calls for science education not only to teach scientific findings
and methods but also to nurture the scientific mindset and its core
values. Drawing on historical sources as well as a sociological
study of more than a thousand scientists, Pennock's philosophical
account is grounded in values that scientists themselves recognize
they should aspire to. Pennock argues that epistemic and ethical
values are normatively interconnected, and that for science and
society to flourish, we need not just a philosophy of science, but
a philosophy of the scientist.
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