Hugh Desmond
Biographic Data
| ID | 982874 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Hugh Desmond |
| GIVEN NAMES | Hugh |
| FAMILY NAME | Desmond |
| SIGNATURE | DESMOND H |
| AFFILIATIONS | Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-4822-923X |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 15 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 3 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 13 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 2 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2017 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2024 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
Codes of conduct should help scientists navigate societal expectations
Scientists are increasingly expected to incorporate socio-political considerations in their work, for instance by anticipating potential socio-political ramifications. While this is aimed at promoting pro-social values, critics argue that the desire to serve society has led to self-censorship and even to the politicization of science. Philosophers of science have developed various strategies to distinguish between influences of values that safegu…
The ethics of expert communication
Despite its public visibility and impact on policy, the activity of expert communication rarely receives more than a passing mention in codes of scientific integrity. This paper makes the case for an ethics of expert communication, introducing a framework where expert communication is represented as an intrinsically ethical activity of a deliberative agent. Ethical expert communication cannot be ensured by complying with various requirements, suc…
Gatekeeping should be conserved in the open science era
The elimination of gatekeepers for scientific publication has been represented as a means to promote the core moral values of open science, including democratic decision-making and inclusiveness. I argue that this framing ignores the reality that gatekeeping is a way of structuring prestige hierarchies, and that without gatekeeping, some other structuring would be needed: the flattening of prestige hierarchies is not possible given scientists’ ne…
Evolutionary Thinking Across Disciplines
The Value-Free Ideal of Science
The value-free ideal in codes of conduct for research integrity
Human Success
Evolutionary Thinking Across Disciplines
Reclaiming Care and Privacy in the Age of Social Media
Social media has invaded our private, professional, and public lives. While corporations continue to portray social media as a celebration of self-expression and freedom, public opinion, by contrast, seems to have decidedly turned against social media. Yet we continue to use it just the same. What is social media, and how should we live with it? Is it the promise of a happier and more interconnected humanity, or a vehicle for toxic self-promotion…
Status Distrust of Scientific Experts
Distrust in scientific experts can be surprisingly stubborn, persisting despite evidence supporting the experts' views, demonstrations of their competence, or displays of good will. This stubborn distrust is often viewed as a manifestation of irrationality. By contrast, this article proposes a logic of "status distrust": low-status individuals are objectively vulnerable to collective decision-making, and can justifiably distrust high-status scien…
Research integrity codes of conduct in Europe
In the past decade, policy‐makers in science have been concerned with harmonizing research integrity standards across Europe. These standards are encapsulated in the European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity. Yet, almost every European country today has its own national‐level code of conduct for research integrity. In this study we document in detail how national‐level codes diverge on almost all aspects concerning research integrity—except…
In Service to Others
In enhancement ethics, evolutionary theory has been largely perceived as supporting liberal views on enhancement, in which decisions to enhance are predominantly regulated by the principle of individual autonomy. In this article, I critique this perception in light of recent scientific developments. Cultural evolutionary theory suggests a picture in which individual interests are entangled with community interests, and this undermines the applica…
Incentivizing Replication Is Insufficient to Safeguard Default Trust
Philosophers of science and metascientists alike typically model scientists’ behavior as driven by credit maximization. In this article I argue that this modeling assumption cannot account for how scientists have a default level of trust in each other’s assertions. The normative implication of this is that science policy should not focus solely on incentive reform
Natural selection, plasticity, and the rationale for largest-scale trends
Symmetry breaking and the emergence of path-dependence
Incentivizing Replication Is Insufficient to Safeguard Default Trust
Philosophers of science and metascientists alike typically model scientists’ behavior as driven by credit maximization. In this article I argue that this modeling assumption cannot account for how scientists have a default level of trust in each other’s assertions. The normative implication of this is that science policy should not focus solely on incentive reform
Gatekeeping should be conserved in the open science era
The elimination of gatekeepers for scientific publication has been represented as a means to promote the core moral values of open science, including democratic decision-making and inclusiveness. I argue that this framing ignores the reality that gatekeeping is a way of structuring prestige hierarchies, and that without gatekeeping, some other structuring would be needed: the flattening of prestige hierarchies is not possible given scientists’ ne…
Symmetry breaking and the emergence of path-dependence
Natural selection, plasticity, and the rationale for largest-scale trends
Research integrity codes of conduct in Europe
In the past decade, policy‐makers in science have been concerned with harmonizing research integrity standards across Europe. These standards are encapsulated in the European Code of Conduct for Research Integrity. Yet, almost every European country today has its own national‐level code of conduct for research integrity. In this study we document in detail how national‐level codes diverge on almost all aspects concerning research integrity—except…
In Service to Others
In enhancement ethics, evolutionary theory has been largely perceived as supporting liberal views on enhancement, in which decisions to enhance are predominantly regulated by the principle of individual autonomy. In this article, I critique this perception in light of recent scientific developments. Cultural evolutionary theory suggests a picture in which individual interests are entangled with community interests, and this undermines the applica…
Incentivizing Replication Is Insufficient to Safeguard Default Trust
Philosophers of science and metascientists alike typically model scientists’ behavior as driven by credit maximization. In this article I argue that this modeling assumption cannot account for how scientists have a default level of trust in each other’s assertions. The normative implication of this is that science policy should not focus solely on incentive reform
Reclaiming Care and Privacy in the Age of Social Media
Social media has invaded our private, professional, and public lives. While corporations continue to portray social media as a celebration of self-expression and freedom, public opinion, by contrast, seems to have decidedly turned against social media. Yet we continue to use it just the same. What is social media, and how should we live with it? Is it the promise of a happier and more interconnected humanity, or a vehicle for toxic self-promotion…
Status Distrust of Scientific Experts
Distrust in scientific experts can be surprisingly stubborn, persisting despite evidence supporting the experts' views, demonstrations of their competence, or displays of good will. This stubborn distrust is often viewed as a manifestation of irrationality. By contrast, this article proposes a logic of "status distrust": low-status individuals are objectively vulnerable to collective decision-making, and can justifiably distrust high-status scien…
Evolutionary Thinking Across Disciplines
The Value-Free Ideal of Science
The value-free ideal in codes of conduct for research integrity
Human Success
Evolutionary Thinking Across Disciplines
Codes of conduct should help scientists navigate societal expectations
Scientists are increasingly expected to incorporate socio-political considerations in their work, for instance by anticipating potential socio-political ramifications. While this is aimed at promoting pro-social values, critics argue that the desire to serve society has led to self-censorship and even to the politicization of science. Philosophers of science have developed various strategies to distinguish between influences of values that safegu…
The ethics of expert communication
Despite its public visibility and impact on policy, the activity of expert communication rarely receives more than a passing mention in codes of scientific integrity. This paper makes the case for an ethics of expert communication, introducing a framework where expert communication is represented as an intrinsically ethical activity of a deliberative agent. Ethical expert communication cannot be ensured by complying with various requirements, suc…
Gatekeeping should be conserved in the open science era
The elimination of gatekeepers for scientific publication has been represented as a means to promote the core moral values of open science, including democratic decision-making and inclusiveness. I argue that this framing ignores the reality that gatekeeping is a way of structuring prestige hierarchies, and that without gatekeeping, some other structuring would be needed: the flattening of prestige hierarchies is not possible given scientists’ ne…
Law (10 works) · Political science (10 works) · Computer Science (8 works) · Sociology (7 works) · Epistemology (6 works) · Philosophy (6 works) · Ethics in Clinical Research (5 works) · Engineering ethics (4 works) · Normative (4 works) · Philosophy of science (4 works)