The Virtues of Scientific Practice: MacIntyre, Virtue Ethics, and the Historiography of Science

“Practice” has become a ubiquitous term in the history of science, and yet historians have not always reflected on its philosophical import and especially on its potential connections with ethics. In this essay, we draw on the work of the virtue ethicist Alasdair MacIntyre to develop a theory of “communal practices” and explore how such an approach can inform the history of science, including allegations about the corruption of science by wealth or power; consideration of scientific ethics or “moral economies”; the role of values in science; the ethical distinctiveness (or not) of scientific vocations; and the relationship between history of science and the practice of science itself

The Virtues of Scientific Practice: MacIntyre, Virtue Ethics, and the Historiography of Science

“Practice” has become a ubiquitous term in the history of science, and yet historians have not always reflected on its philosophical import and especially on its potential connections with ethics. In this essay, we draw on the work of the virtue ethicist Alasdair MacIntyre to develop a theory of “communal practices” and explore how such an approach can inform the history of science, including allegations about the corruption of science by wealth or power; consideration of scientific ethics or “moral economies”; the role of values in science; the ethical distinctiveness (or not) of scientific vocations; and the relationship between history of science and the practice of science itself

Using Virtue to Think About Science and Technology

Scholars have recently turned to a surprising source for analyzing contemporary science and technology: concepts of virtue drawn from ancient philosophy and religion. This chapter provides a brief history of the relationship between virtue, science, and technology before turning to the contents of this edited volume. Science, Technology, and Virtue offers a range of perspectives illustrating how scholars across multiple disciplines have found virtue valuable for helping us to understand, construct, and use the fruits of modern science and technology. In doing so, the authors show how intellectual and moral character-as embodied dispositions for action-continue to be central for pursuing the good life, even in an age of high technology and science.</p

Science, Technology, and Virtues:Contemporary Perspectives

What makes for a good scientist or a good engineer? How does using a new technology or working in a research lab begin to shape our thought and behavior? How can we best anticipate and navigate the ethical dilemmas created by modern scientific research and technology? Scholars across multiple disciplines have begun turning to a surprising resource to address these questions: discussions of virtue that have their roots in ancient philosophical and religious traditions. This volume gathers a number of these perspectives to show how concepts of virtue can help us better understand, construct, and use the fruits of modern science and technology.</p

Narrative in economics: a new turn on the past

Narratives have drawn increasing attention from economists and from historians and philosophers of science. Yet little of that attention has made it into the history of economics itself. This essay reviews some of the salient literature on economic narratives and introduces key themes from a 2021 workshop intended to bring that analysis to bear within the history of economics. Four important, but little noticed, functions of narratives emerging from that workshop are highlighted: exploration, explanation, closure, and reopening; and promising areas for future research on the multiple roles of narrative in the history of economic practice are suggested