Jessey Wright (Stanford University)
The turn towards practice saw philosophers become more engaged with methodological and theoretical issues arising within particular scientific disciplines. The nature of this engagement ranges from close attention to published scientific research and archival materials, to structured interviews and ethnographic research (Leonelli 2012; Osbeck and Nersessian 2017), to participation in a research setting (Tuana 2013). I propose philosophy in science as an approach to inquiry that is continuous with these. It is philosophical research conducted via the integration philosophical ways of thinking into the practices of science. In this poster I describe the aims of this approach, a brief outline of a method for doing it, and identify some benefits and drawbacks. To develop this position, I examine my graduate training which involved close contact with neuroscientists and my current postdoctoral appointment as the resident philosopher in a neuroscience lab.
My dissertation project was born out of the stark contrast I noticed between philosophical analyses of neuroscience and the activities I observed while attending lab meetings. Philosophical critiques of neuroimaging research often overlook small steps in the experimental process invisible in publications, but plainly visible in day-to-day activities. This work produced contributions to philosophy of science, and improved the data interpretation practices within my lab. I present this work as an example of philosophical inquiry that advances both philosophy and science. It demonstrates how philosophical theories can be directly applied to advance the scientific problems that they are descriptive of. The use of philosophy in empirical contexts allows the realities of scientific practice ‘push back,’ revealing aspects of scientific practice that are under-appreciated by the philosophical analyses and accounts of science you are using.
My position as a resident philosopher in a lab shows how normative aims of philosophy are realized in collaboration. Projects in my lab are united by the goal of improving reproducibility and the quality of evidence in neuroimaging research. My project examines how the development of infrastructures for sharing and analyzing data influences the standards of evidence in neuroscience. In particular, recent disputes in cognitive neuroscience between database users and developers has made salient to neuroscience’s that the impact tool developers intend to have, and the actual uses of their tools, may be incompatible. The process of articulating philosophical dimensions of these disputes, and examining decisions surrounding tool development, have influenced the form, presentation, and promotion of those tools.
My approach, of pursing philosophically interesting questions that the will provide valuable insight for scientists integrates philosophical skills and ways of thinking seamlessly into scientific practices. I conclude by noting advantages and pitfalls with this approach.
