Author Information: Kristina Rolin, University of Helsinki, kristina.rolin@helsinki.fi

Rolin, Kristina. “‘Facing the Incompleteness of Epistemic Trust’ — A Critical Reply.” Social Epistemology Review and Reply Collective 3, no. 5 (2014): 74-78.

The PDF of the article gives specific page numbers. Shortlink: http://wp.me/p1Bfg0-1qU

Please refer to:

• Wagenknecht, Susann. “Facing the Incompleteness of Epistemic Trust: Managing Dependence in Scientific Practice.” Social Epistemology (12 February 2014). doi: 10.1080/02691728.2013.794872

Recent years have witnessed an emergence of a novel specialty in social epistemology: the social epistemology of research groups. Within this specialty there are two approaches to understanding the epistemic structure of scientific collaboration. Some philosophers suggest that scientific knowledge emerging in collaborations includes collective beliefs or acceptances (Andersen 2010; Bouvier 2004; Cheon 2013; Gilbert 2000; Rolin 2010; Staley 2007; Wray 2006, 2007). Some others suggest that the epistemic structure of scientific collaboration is based on relations of trust among scientists (Andersen and Wagenknecht 2013; Fagan 2011, 2012; Frost-Arnold 2013; Hardwig 1991; Kusch 2002; de Ridder 2013; Thagard 2010; Wagenknecht 2013). In the former case, a research team is thought to arrive at a group view which is not fully reducible to individual views. In the latter case, each team member is thought to rely on testimonial knowledge which is based on her trusting other team members. These two models are not exclusive and competing accounts of the epistemic structure of scientific collaboration. They can be seen as two parallel models for understanding the special nature of scientific knowledge produced in collaborations. Sometimes scientific knowledge in collaborations takes the form of collective acceptance, sometimes it is an outcome of trust-based acceptance, and at other times it takes some other form.  Continue Reading…