Scientific Ethos Research Articles

Underground Roots for Ancestral Futures: Exploring Lithium Through an Experimental Alliance between Chemistry and Anthropology

Amid the push for decarbonization and the rise of lithium-ion batteries, global demand for lithium urges an examination of its materiality. Drawing on Barry's chemical geography, which gathers various concerns related to the study of chemicals in the field, and Bachelard's meta-chemical proposal, which challenges a substantialist understanding of chemicals, we propose an experimental alliance between a chemist and an anthropologist concerned with different ways of problematizing lithium's materiality. Guided by a commitment to Latin American territories and embracing a slow science ethos, we seek to foster a sense of responsibility rooted in the material genealogy of chemical substances. Through ethnographic analysis of lithium extraction practices in the Salar de Atacama, Chile, and examination of lithium behaviors in materials chemistry laboratories in Argentina and Europe, we establish a partial connection between lithium chemical labs and underground ancestral lithium brines. Ultimately, we envision futures that acknowledge the ancestral origins of Latin American undergrounds, resisting the univocity of a future-oriented, battery-ion age. In so doing, we endeavor to cultivate a mode of attention concerned with place and deep-time materiality, challenging lineal illusions of progress while embracing the complexities of our planetary present and past.

Towards a New Ethos of Science or a Reform of the Institution of Science? Merton Revisited and the Prospects of Institutionalizing the Research Values of Openness and Mutual Responsiveness

In this article, I will explore how the underlying research values of ‘openness’ and ‘mutual responsiveness’, which are central to open science practices, can be integrated into a new ethos of science. Firstly, I will revisit Robert Merton's early contribution to this issue, examining whether the ethos of science should be understood as a set of norms for scientists to practice ‘good’ science or as a set of research values as a functional requirement of the scientific system to produce knowledge, irrespective of individual adherence to these norms. Secondly, I will analyse the recent codification of scientific practice in terms of ‘scientific integrity’, a framework that Merton did not pursue. Based on this analysis, and illustrated on the case of COVID-19 as a case in which the institution of science was challenged to deliver urgently on societal desirable outcomes, I will argue that promoting open science and its core norms of collaboration and openness requires broader governance of the institution of science in its relationship with society at large, rather than relying solely on self-governance within the scientific community through a new ethos of science. This conclusion has implications for re-evaluating research assessments, suggesting that the evaluation of the scientific system should take precedence over evaluating individual researchers, and that incentives should be provided to encourage specific research behaviour rather than solely focusing on individual research outputs.

Responses to the critics

Personal comment on the responses to “Towards a New Ethos of Science or a Reform of the Institution of Science? Merton Revisited and the Prospects of Institutionalizing the Research Values of Openness and Mutual Responsiveness” by René von Schomberg.

Digital Scholarship from the Periphery: Insights from Researchers in Chile on Academia.edu and ResearchGate

The digitization of academic practices has transformed how research output is shared and discussed, with academic social network sites (ASNS) like Academia.edu and ResearchGate emerging as pivotal platforms. However, their uptake and implications in contexts like Latin America still need to be explored. This study examines the emerging tensions related to using ASNS (Academia.edu and ResearchGate). As such, it offers a qualitative data analysis from 28 interviews with Chilean university researchers. It focuses on three emerging and overlapping tensions: the quantification of research via altmetrics, reputation building, and self-promotion. The findings underscore that altmetrics -despite providing a broader view of research impact- can mirror and perpetuate the problematic aspects of academic capitalism. Digital reputation, tied to high scores, conflicts with more qualitative aspects. The observed ambivalence towards self-promotion exposes a tension between the traditional scientific ethos and academic capitalism. Ultimately, this research unveils the multifaceted implications and paradoxes introduced by these platforms in the Chilean academic milieu.

The West German and Italian Left in the “Two Cultures” Debate: Trasnationalization and Localization (1964–1969)

Abstract This article delves into the transnational aspects of the “Two Cultures” debate initiated by the British chemist and writer C. P. Snow, and explores how Italian and West German intellectuals localized and translated aspects of the debate within their respective political landscapes. Snow described the relationship between science and the humanities, and attributed a unique social responsibility to science. Prominent leftist thinkers, including Gino Martinoli, Adriano Buzzati Traverso, Aldo Visalberghi, Giulio Preti, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Karl Steinbuch, Hans Mohr, Hilde Domin, Jürgen Habermas, and Robert Jungk, engaged Snow's ideas, each formulating their stance on the role of science. These intellectuals were divided in their response. Some concurred with Snow, viewing scientific advancement as a cornerstone of social progress and considering the scientific ethos as a model for political emulation. Others, however, were critical, questioning the very notions of scientific progress, rationality, and modernization. This intellectual discourse foreshadowed the New Left's critique of scientism in the 1970s, a movement that significantly challenged the longstanding marriage between socialism and science.

Virtues and vocation: An historical perspective on scientific integrity in the twenty-first century

According to the Dutch chemist Gerrit Jan Mulder (1802–1880), the principal aim of university education was character building and moral edification. Professional training was of secondary importance. Mulder’s ideas about the vocation and moral mission of the university professor can serve as a historical counterpart to later Weberian, Mertonian, and contemporary ideas on the ethos of science. I argue that a revaluation of the moral precepts that Mulder saw as defining the life of an academic is helpful in dealing with the problems of late modern science, such as the replication crisis and research misconduct. Addressing such problems must start in the university classrooms. To empower students to internalize the principles of responsible conduct of research, we need an updated version of Mulder’s idea of the university professor as a moral agent.

Objectivity, honesty, and integrity: How American scientists talked about their virtues, 1945-2000.

What kind of people make good scientists? What personal qualities do scholars say their peers should exhibit? And how do they express these expectations? This article explores these issues by mapping the kinds of virtues discussed by American scientists between 1945 and 2000. Our wide-ranging comparative analysis maps scientific virtue talk across three distinct disciplines - physics, psychology, and history - and across sources that typify those disciplines' scientific ethos - introductory textbooks, book reviews, and codes of ethics. We find that, when inducting students into a discipline, evaluating peers, or codifying their professional standards, postwar American scientists routinely named virtues like carefulness, objectivity, and honesty. They applied such virtues not only directly to scholars' characters, minds, and attitudes (thereby equating virtues with personal qualities), but also to their methods, modes of reasoning, and working habits (in the form of what we call virtue-qualifiers). Strikingly, we find that physicists, psychologists, and historians drew upon largely similar repertoires of virtue. For all of them, scientific work required carefulness, thoroughness, and accuracy. Not all virtues, however, were equally important in all disciplines (notably objectivity), nor did each ethos-forming genre place equal emphasis on the directly personal nature of such virtues. All in all, our research establishes an extended framework for understanding the ways virtues remained present in postwar American scientific discourse writ large.

Towards a New Ethos of Science or a Reform of the Institution of Science? Merton Revisited and the Prospects of Institutionalizing the Research Values of Openness and Mutual Responsiveness

Towards a New Ethos of Science or a Reform of the Institution of Science? Merton Revisited and the Prospects of Institutionalizing the Research Values of Openness and Mutual Responsiveness

Что бы сделал Роберт Мёртон, если бы у него был ChatGPT?

In 2023, ChatGPT became the subject of many discussions, particularly about the potential negative impact of generative model usage practices on scientific creativity. This article explores the assumption that such alarming concerns are not related to the technology itself, but to how it reveals and makes noticeable the implicit cultural and value aspects of culture. The concept of R. Merton's scientific ethos is proposed as a theoretical basis for studying hidden value mechanisms in science. However, unlike the original concept, the author assumes that value orientations vary depending on whether they manifest in formal or informal discussions, whether they come from the scientists themselves during their professional practice or from other participants influencing their practice. The study is based on comparing two sets of information about how the use of ChatGPT reflects the values of modern science: formal and official sources describing the activities of scientists from a third-person perspective (“they, scientists”), and informal messages discussed and commented on in online communities of academic workers (“I, scientist / we, scientists”). It was found that the description of the problem situation changes depending on the chosen perspective. Pessimistic and anxious forecasts about the “loss of human contribution” are not characteristic of the “first-person” perspective, where through ChatGPT there is a need for discussion on a specialized topic and a desire to focus on the content of scientific activity, saving time on formal tasks (grammar, punctuation, translation into a foreign language). This leads to the conclusion that the ethos of the scientific community is not singular, as the scientific community itself does not consist solely of scientists, and alarming fears arise as a reaction to changes in trust mechanisms between such sub-ethoses. The author declares no conflict of interests.

Scientific Community

This article problematizes the state of the contemporary scientific community, which fluctuates between the desire for autonomy and creative freedom, on the one hand, and responsibility to social challenges, on the other. In this context, the social meaning of Paul Feyerabend’s epistemological anarchism is reconstructed, revealing not only critical but also positive significance for contemporary science. Answering the two-sided question, “What kind of society does science need, and what kind of science does society need?”, Feyerabend gives a disappointing diagnosis of both society and science. The political desire for ideological monism and totalitarianism is supported by science, which is sometimes a form of ideology – a militant rationalism that excludes alternative points of view – and in turn parasitizes society. This circle can only be broken in a regime of genuine pluralist democracy, which will lead to a change in the understanding of science and its role in society. The ability to “defamiliarize” (B. Brecht), to take the position of the “other”, to refuse to gain intellectual power – these are the key characteristics of free reason, as Feyerabend understood it. If we try to reconstruct a social group that possesses such a mind, then in the social projection it will include marginal people, dilettantes, scientists whose activities diverge from the disciplinary paradigm and norms of the standard scientific ethos. A precarian is such a subject of science that breaks the monopoly on the truth and contributes to changing the understanding of science. The question is raised about the productivity and effectiveness of the scientific precariat in relation to the concept of science in a free society, as well as to the positioning of this phenomenon in the context of current discussions about expert knowledge, citizen science and pseudoscience.

Educational Dualism in Indonesia: Systematic Literatur Review

Dualism in education is an interesting topic to discuss. Two entities separated as a result of this educational dualism are not easy to be united. However, this situation has happened, and what we have to do is finding the solution to anticipate the effects of the dualism. This article uses SLR method, which aims to summarize researches that have been done on history, effects, and solution of educational dualism in Indonesia. In this Systematic Literature Review (SLR) we collect, synthesize, and analyse research articles on educational dualism in Indonesia published between 2013 and 2023. The result of the research is that educational dualism in Indonesia is caused by several respects. First, this dualism is started from the policy of the Dutch Colonial Government in the pre-independence era. Second, the dualism is inherited and rooted up to now. Third, there is a political factor in the Indonesian government. Fourth, government policies that is considered weakening and alienating madrasah education (Islam), Fifth, the narrowness of scientific studies in Islamic education. Meanwhile, the impacts of this dualism are that there is a dichotomy in knowledge, the cost of education is unaffordable for the lower middle class, curriculum development is increasing but religious, cultural and social values are experiencing a decline, and the world of education is becoming a political playing ground. To reduce the impact of the educational dualism above, several solutions are offered: one, eliminating scientific dichotomies; two, awakening the Islamic scientific ethos and scientific integration; three, changes in government policy.

Konsep dan Etos Ilmu dalam Ensiklopedi Al-Qur'an Karya Dawam Rahardjo

The fact of the decline of the Muslim world in terms of intellectual level has been discussed in many places. The response to these challenges is very diverse. One response that is considered relevant is to bring back the spirit of the Qur'an to revive the tradition of knowledge. This research aims to explore the concept and ethos of knowledge in the book Encyclopaedia Al-Qur'an by Dawan Rahardjo. This type of research is library research using descriptive-analytical method. The results of this study are, in his introduction, Dawam explains the ethos of science in the Islamic world, where the concept of knowledge sourced from the Qur'an and hadith became the driving force of Islamic society in the past in creating an advanced civilisation. Regarding the interpretation of the Qur'an, Dawam raises all vocabulary that contains elements of 'knowledge' which is not limited to the word 'ilm and its various derivations, but other vocabulary such as fahhama, 'aqala, bashir, faqiha, khabara, albab, and so on in revealing the meaning of 'knowledge' in the Qur'an. On the other hand, Dawam raises one sample surah, QS. al-An'am to show that the Qur'an encourages its people to act in a rational way and has functional value. Finally, Dawam concludes that although the Qur'an contains theological aspects as a religious teaching, as a teaching of life, the Qur'an also contains practical aspects of the spirit to be knowledgeable, act rationally, and also create a scientific civilisation.

Challenges of Academic Ethos: The Scientific Community’s Response to the Ostracism of Russian Scientists Following the Invasion of Ukraine

Abstract Objective The primary aim of this article is to understand how contemporary scientists from the Polish academic community perceive the scientific ethos in the context of ostracism within the scientific community, which emerged following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The article focuses on analyzing the epistemological and ethical implications of this ostracism in the academic context, considering Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Methodology For this purpose, in-depth interviews were conducted within the Polish scientific community (11 participants), with respondents with degrees (full professors, Ph. D’s, associate professors, assistant professors, and professor emeritus), and literature review was carried out. Findings Based on the discussion, the research findings illuminate diverse approaches within the Polish academic community regarding the ostracism of Russian scientists following Ukraine’s invasion, shedding light on the intricate interplay between personal beliefs, scientific ethos, and educational values while also highlighting the multifaceted ethical challenges faced by scientific research, especially within military and political contexts. Value Added The study suggests the necessity for academic institutions to establish clear protocols for knowledge dissemination and crisis management that respect the ethos of scientific work while being adaptable to the shifting geopolitical landscape. It is also recommended that there should be a concerted effort to create forums for international scholarly dialogue to ensure that ostracism does not stifle academic collaboration and knowledge advancement. Recommendations This article contributes to the existing literature by providing empirical insights into how the academic community navigates the ethical dilemmas posed by geopolitical conflicts. Moreover, it underscores the importance of maintaining the integrity of the scientific discourse amidst external pressures, offering a nuanced understanding of the interplay between political events and academic practices.

Towards sustainable conservation science in cultural heritage: bridging the gap between contemporary conservation theory and the philosophy of science in approaches to authenticity questions

As contemporary artists’ practices evolve to incorporate ever-newer forms and approaches, conservators are encountering challenges not met before, that influence the development of sustainable and green treatment methods and materials. Many challenges stem from how we understand and articulate authenticity and cultural heritage. In approaching authenticity, the conservation field seeks to rely on reliable knowledge, supplied by science that has been playing an ever more critical role in conservation and technical art history. While conservation science techniques are relatively well-known to conservators, the foundational ethos of the scientific inquiry that distinguishes science from other intellectual pursuits needs to be clarified. Exploration of the foundational ethos of science and the philosophy of science has lacked in conservation, which creates communication problems for stakeholders with different backgrounds: curators, conservators, art historians, and scientists, who operate in different realms, but need to produce knowledge across disciplines and collectively. To bridge this knowledge gap in authenticity questions, the authors take the perspective of the philosophy of science and discuss what makes the scientific inquiry distinct from other intellectual pursuits in the context of conservation. As a workable solution for cultural heritage, the authors propose adopting a concept of scientific attitude as a science demarcation criterion, introduced by Lee McIntyre. The new demarcation criterion, based on values rather than methodology, offers a sustainable approach to defining the role of present-day science in cultural heritage and building sustainable connections with diverse frameworks of knowledge used in conservation and authenticity questions.

Toward a holistic vision on the nature of science in science curricula: an investigation of primary and middle school curricula in Turkey

ABSTRACT Background Nature of Science (NOS) is a significant research area as well as a curriculum theme in science education. Although many analyses of science curricula and their coverage of NOS exist, there are limited accounts of science curricula that take a broad and holistic vision on NOS. A recent framework called the ‘Reconceptualised Family Resemblance Approach to Nature of Science (RFN)’ provides such a broad account and covers the cognitive-epistemic and social-institutional systems of science. The cognitive-epistemic system consists of ‘aims and values’, ‘methods and methodological rules’, ‘scientific practices’, and ‘scientific knowledge’ while the social-institutional system consists of ‘professional activities’, ‘social certification and dissemination’, ‘social values’, ‘scientific ethos’, ‘social organizations and interactions’, ‘financial systems’, and ‘political power structures’. Purpose The empirical study reported in the paper aims to investigate the inclusion of NOS in the Turkish science curriculum by using the RFN. Design and Methods Turkish science curriculum used at primary and middle school levels were analyzed by content analysis. Findings The results suggest that the Turkish science curriculum emphasizes the cognitive-epistemic categories more than the social-institutional categories. The dominating RFN category in the science curriculum is scientific practices while the reference to political power structures is limited. Conclusion The paper contributes to understanding of how Turkish science curriculum covers NOS, and it has implications for international science curricula reform for an inclusive account of NOS that is likely to enhance science learning.

The DECAY of Merton’s scientific norms and the new academic ethos

ABSTRACT This article provides a conceptual reformulation of Merton’s scientific ethos widely known by the acronym CUDOS (i.e. communism, universalism, disinterestedness and organised scepticism). While Merton perceived the threat to the autonomy of science as coming from outside the walls of academe, mainly in the form of nationalism and racism, the subsequent rise of neoliberalism and global market forces means that the scientific ethos is being undermined largely from within the university itself, leading to the DECAY (i.e. differentialism, egoism, capitalism and advocacy) of CUDOS. The STEM-ification of the humanities and social sciences academic community has led to the rise of a post-academic ethos. This manifests itself in professional pragmatism with academics facing both ways at the same time by remaining largely committed to Mertonian norms in theory but needing to adapt to the performative demands of DECAY as a new set of institutional norms that prevails in practice.

Scientific Ethos and Knowledge Management

The development of knowledge creation theory (Nonaka and Takeuchi, 1995) took into account the values shared by the members of an organization, later generating an extended concept of "Ba" (Nonaka and Toyama, 2005), understood as shared context. Matsuadira (2010) defined the complex of organisational values (the ethos) as knowledge (intangible) assets for knowledge creating companies. I suggest that this leads us back to R.K. Merton’s theory of the normative structure of science and the ethos of science. The challenge is to ask whether we can we talk about the applicability of the norms proposed by Merton to the case of knowledge management in knowledge creating companies, or rather there will be some evident deviations and counter-norms. It is well known that the value of universalism is contested by particularism or that of “communism” by the secrecy of research. My hypothesis is that at methodological level the technical norms of knowledge testing and evaluation are universal and globalizable, but in the practical context of the action the guiding values and the mores of knowledge production are local and particular, i.e. depending on various social and cultural factors. The principle of glocalization (“think globally and act locally”) should, therefore, be applied.

The Ottoman Approach to Scientific Classification in Tafsir History: A Study of Taskopruluzade Ahmad Efendi’s ‘Miftâhu’s-Saâde’

This study presents an analytical investigation of the historical aspect of tafsir within the Ottoman tradition, as found in the literary composition "Miftāhus-Sa'âda," which was authored by Taskopruluzade (d. 968/1561). This work holds a significant role in the classification of knowledge, serving as the foundational underpinning for the establishment of scientific traditions within the Ottoman Empire. Through the lens of this work, the historical narrative of tafsir is recontextualized to align with the scientific framework inherent in the Ottoman tradition, thus imparting a distinctive character to the realm of Qur'anic interpretation during the Ottoman Empire's tenure. Employing historical research methodologies encompassing heuristics, verification, interpretation, and historiography, this investigation critically examines the history of scientific classification, a bedrock for shaping the taxonomy of categorized disciplines within their respective contexts. The research delves deeply into the composition of "Miftâhu’s-Saâde," offering a comprehensive perspective on the evolution of tafsir history. The findings of this research underscore that, in the process of Science Classification congruent with the scientific ethos of the Ottoman Empire, Taskopruluzade, within "Miftâhu’s-Saâde," undertakes three pivotal tasks. Firstly, he evaluates classical tafsir works through the lens of scientific classification norms entrenched in the Ottoman tradition. Secondly, these appraised tafsir works are juxtaposed with others, facilitating the establishment of benchmarks and taxonomies that wield considerable influence in guiding the trajectory of tafsir history. Thirdly, a comprehensive exploration ensues into the interplay between interpretive works and the activities of interpretation. The implications of this discourse offer a substantive contribution, deepening the comprehension of tafsir history and the classification of knowledge within the scholarly milieu of the Ottoman Empire.

Post-publication Peer Review with an Intention to Uncover Data/Result Irregularities and Potential Research Misconduct in Scientific Research: Vigilantism or Volunteerism?

Irregularities in data/results of scientific research might be spotted pre-publication by co-workers and reviewers, or post-publication by readers typically with vested interest. The latter might consist of fellow researchers in the same subject area who would naturally pay closer attention to a published paper. However, it is increasingly apparent that there are readers who interrogate papers in detail with a primary intention to identify potential problems with the work. Here, we consider post-publication peer review (PPPR) by individuals, or groups of individuals, who perform PPPRs with a perceptible intention to actively identify irregularities in published data/results and to expose potential research fraud or misconduct, or intentional misconduct exposing (IME)-PPPR. On one hand, such activities, when done anonymously or pseudonymously with no formal discourse, have been deemed as lacking in accountability, or perceived to incur some degree of maleficence, and have been labelled as vigilantism. On the other, these voluntary works have unravelled many instances of research misconduct and have helped to correct the literature. We explore the tangible benefits of IME-PPPR in detecting errors in published papers and from the perspectives of moral permissibility, research ethics, and the sociological perspective of science. We posit that the benefits of IME-PPPR activities that uncover clear evidence of misconduct, even when performed anonymously or pseudonymously, outweigh their perceived deficiencies. These activities contribute to a vigilant research culture that manifests the self-correcting nature of science, and are in line with the Mertonian norms of scientific ethos.

Mobilization Model of Science Management: Pro et Contra

The conditions, prospects and consequences of using the mobilization management model (hereinafter MM) in science are considered. It is shown that the problem of mobilization arises when politics invades the economy in order to force it to switch to achieving goals that are beyond the current and prospective economic environment. To this end, the economic mechanisms that regulate economic activity are replaced by a system of priorities for the concentration of quality resources in the areas of their own reproduction, ensuring the highest possible growth rates of quality resources over a certain period. The change in the direction of resource flows is carried out by discriminating against non-priority industries, giving rise to technological imbalance and qualitative heterogeneity of the production apparatus. The gap between the priority sphere and the rest of the economy under conditions of mobilization can only grow, leading in time to its disorganization. The situation of mobilization creates extremely disastrous conditions for scientific and innovative activity. Within the framework of the administrative-command system, the scientific ethos is destroyed, and the scientist turns from a researcher and creator into an official-manager for access and interpretation of new knowledge, functionally merging with the state bureaucracy. The logic of events arising from the use of the mobilization management model leads to destructive and disorganizing results. Its limited application is possible only within the framework of individual projects, an indispensable condition for the implementation of which is the existence of an independent system of regulation and control and a strict time frame for its work.