The first letter of these five norms spells the word CUDOS, which reminds us of the kudos with which scientists are rewarded when they follow these norms.
Communalism – The findings of academic science are public knowledge rather than private knowledge.
secrecy is prohibited in the sense that it cannot carry weight or be given credit in scientific discourse;
dishonesty is not tolerated and mutual, personal trust is the norm;
findings are accepted as primary literature in the public record only as a result of peer review;
the ethic of communalism helps to explain the importance of empiricism and intersubjectivity in scientific epistemology; epistemic strategies include quantification, measurement, standardization (and calibration), instrumentation, experimentation, and verification
Universalism in science has two faces:
contributions to science can not be excluded because of race, nationality, religion, social status, gender, sexual preference, or other irrelevant criteria (i.e., science is multicultural); science strives to be a meritocracy; the scientific community attempts to be democratic and fair to its citizens;
empirical ‘facts’ have to be
consensible and the
scientific ‘theories’ that interpret them have to be
consensual;
the categories of “fact” (representation of experience),
“taxonomy”
(classification of facts), and
“theory” (explanation of the classification) have
to be shared among the scientists.
Disinterestedness – Objectivity is an attempt to separate the political, religious, economic personal vested interests of scientists of from their findings. All reference to economic, political, religious or other social interests is routinely and systematically excluded.
Scientists are motivated by the same things that motivate non-scientists, but their work must reflect their disinterestedness in any particular outcome. They must be open to conclusions that are most consistent with their results.
Academic science tries to attain consensual objectivity (intersubjectivity) by merging individual interests into a collective enterprise; the purpose of the knowledge is often said to be “for knowledge’s sake,” as if there were no interest in the uses to which the knowledge could be put.
When scientists present themselves or their work to the scientific community, they try to take a “backseat” to their own observations and results and to previously reported observations and results.
Scientific papers are written in a neutral, impersonal, passive voice to minimize the personal and social context of the research.
An impression of humility is conveyed by systematically citing formal scientific sources for everything that is not entirely their own work.
Although impersonally written, research papers are never anonymous; credibility is the prime personal asset and reliability the prime social asset.
Thus, one role science has to offer a democratic society is as independent arbiter of social questions (of a scientific nature) that otherwise could only be resolved by reference to political, religious, or economic institutions.
Originality – Scientists are self-reliant, independent thinkers who are trained to be original; whether choosing a research question, deciding on an approach to address it, or finding a way to convince others of their findings, scientists must display novelty in order to gain maximum credit; when they publish, something about the research has to be new; thus, freedom or independence is a necessity in science (in the academy we call it “academic freedom”); also, the right to dissent (see below) is absolutely critical; this need for originality explains the emphasis on research rather than, say, scholarship and the drive towards specialization; research areas (requiring projects and proposals) have to be formulated and in some sense discovered.
Glossary
Consensible information is clear and unambiguous. "Each message should not be so obscure or ambiguous that the recipient is unable either to give whole-hearted assent or to offer well-founded objections." "Fully consensible communication requires an unambiguous language, of which the ideal form is mathematics. The exchange of logically consistent messages is fruitless unless they are recognizable..." (John Ziman. 1978. Reliable Knowledge. Cambridge.)
Consensus, consensual. Part of the scientific consensus. "Ideally the general body of scientific knowledge should consist of facts and principles that are firmly established and accepted without serious doubt by an overwhelming majority of competent, well-informed scientists." (John Ziman. 1978. Reliable Knowledge. Cambridge.)
Cynicism (Greek κυνισμός) was originally the philosophy of a group of ancient Greeks called the Cynics (main article), founded by Antisthenes.
(greek εμπειρισμός, from empirical, latin experientia - the experience), is the philosophical doctrine that all human knowledge ultimately comes from the senses and from experience. Empiricism denies that humans have innate ideas or that anything is knowable a priori, i.e., without reference to experience. Wikipedia
the view that knowledge is derived from sensory experience, for example visual observation. More loosely, it has been used to describe research that contains little in the way of reflection or theory, preferring to report `facts' as they appear to be (as in the term 'abstracted empiricism'). Researching Society and Culture web site
refers to the philosophical theory of knowledge, consisting of attempts to answer questions about how we can know what we know, and whether this knowledge is reliable or not. Debates about the adequacy of empiricism, for example, are epistemological debates. Researching Society and Culture web site
from the Greek words episteme (knowledge) and logos (word/speech) is the branch of philosophy that deals with the nature, origin and scope of knowledge. Historically, it has been one of the most investigated and most debated of all philosophical subjects. Much of this debate has focused on analysing the nature and variety of knowledge and how it relates to similar notions such as truth and belief. Wikipedia
Intersubjectivity: the common-sense, shared meanings constructed by people in their interactions with each other and used as an everyday resource to interpret the meaning of elements of social and cultural life. Researching Society and Culture web site
Relativism: can be epistemological (or `conceptual'), cultural or moral. The first of these involves the rejection of absolute standards for judging truth. The second suggests that different cultures define phenomena in different ways, so that the perspective of one culture cannot be used to understand that of another. The third implies that perceptions of good and evil are matters of social agreement rather than having universal validity. Researching Society and Culture web site