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The Meanings of Science: Conversations with Geneticists

Egorova, Y.

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Authors

Y. Egorova



Abstract

It is often suggested in the mass media and popular academic literature that scientists promote a secular and reductionist understanding of the implications of the life sciences for the concept of being human. Is adhering to this view considered to be one of the components of the notion of being a good scientist? This paper explores responses of geneticists interviewed in the UK, the USA and Russia about the cultural meanings of their work. When discussing this question the interviewees distinguished between their ‘personal’ and ‘professional’ views. When talking as ‘lay people’ they demonstrated a wide range of opinions none of which was perceived as incompatible with scientific practice. When talking as ‘scientists’ the respondents stressed that the cultural implications of their research were not a matter of their professional concern. It is suggested that these two trends in their answers could be explained by scientists tending to relegate the implications of their work to the realm of the social which they construe as divorced from scientific practice.

Citation

Egorova, Y. (2007). The Meanings of Science: Conversations with Geneticists. Health Care Analysis, 15(1), 51-58. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10728-006-0034-4

Journal Article Type Article
Publication Date Mar 1, 2007
Deposit Date May 24, 2007
Publicly Available Date Mar 29, 2024
Journal Health Care Analysis
Print ISSN 1065-3058
Electronic ISSN 1573-3394
Publisher Springer
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 15
Issue 1
Pages 51-58
DOI https://doi.org/10.1007/s10728-006-0034-4
Keywords Cultural implications of genetics, Scientists accounts, Interviews.

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