Noss_Notes

Values Are a Good Thing in Conservation Biology - Reed F. Noss

Noss discuss scientists' involvement as advocates in public policy debates, questioning the idea that their biases will negatively influence their behaviors. He argues that, despite of the need for objectivity in science, there will always be certain level of subjectivity when a scientist chooses his research's objective, which is due to his values as a human being. He also points out that "without values science has nothing with which to judge merit." However, the author doesn't deny that an ethical commitment to the truth is required to be an honest scientist, who must objectively follow the scientific rules in his means to reach the given objective.

The following piece of the text makes an interesting link with post-normal science: "Some recent surveys suggest that the public no longer holds much trust in bureaucracies to make decisions on technical matters; they would prefer that scientists move beyond simply reporting results to being actively involved in interpreting and integrating results of science into policy decisions (Lach et al. 2003)." Noss clearly defends that the scientist must be an actor in public debates, playing the important role of recommending a course of action to be taken in the policy making process.