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Deliberating Policy: Where morals and methods mix

Cartwright, N.; Marcellesi, A.

Deliberating Policy: Where morals and methods mix Thumbnail


Authors

A. Marcellesi



Contributors

M. Couch
Editor

J. Pfeifer
Editor

Abstract

Nancy Cartwright and Alexandre Marcellesi argue that policy decisions ought to be based on (1) whether the policy will be effective and (2) whether it is morally, politically, socially, and culturally acceptable. Greater weight, though, is often given to (1) because it is believed that we have better methods for answering (1) than (2). However, we are overconfident in our judgments about (1) because we “bank on” certainty, believe that “objective” methods—such as randomized controlled trials (RCTs)—are the best path to such certainty, and think that causality is linear and “God-given.” Causal relations are far more complex, while the objective relations we discover through RCTs are local, surface-level, and expressible only in language specific to the RCTs. Our mistaken ideas about objectivity, certainty, and causality lead us to overgeneralize from a few RCTs without adequately addressing the moral ramifications of doing so.

Citation

Cartwright, N., & Marcellesi, A. (2016). Deliberating Policy: Where morals and methods mix. In M. Couch, & J. Pfeifer (Eds.), The philosophy of Philip Kitcher (229-252). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof%3Aoso/9780199381357.003.0010

Online Publication Date Jul 7, 2016
Publication Date Jul 7, 2016
Deposit Date Sep 15, 2015
Publicly Available Date Mar 29, 2024
Publisher Oxford University Press
Pages 229-252
Book Title The philosophy of Philip Kitcher.
Chapter Number 9
DOI https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof%3Aoso/9780199381357.003.0010
Additional Information Also Durham University: CHESS Working Paper No. 2014-02.

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