What is the role of ethics in science?
Fred Gifford

Professor, Philosophy

   Philosophy of Biology, Ethical and Social Issues Concerning Science
 

My teaching and research interests in philosophy of science focus on a range of methodological and conceptual issues concerning the biological sciences: The nature of explanations and causal claims in genetics and evolutionary biology, such as concerning adaptation and units of selection, and causal methodology in biology and medicine. I often teach graduate seminars concerning these topics, as well as a regularly scheduled course, PHL484, "Philosophy of Biological Sciences."

I’m also interested in ethical and social issues concerning science, including biomedical ethics, environmental ethics and ethical issues in biotechnology. One forum for discussing such issues is a cross-listed course that I team-teach with Dr. Rebecca Grumet from Horticulture, "Biotechnology in Agriculture: Applications and Ethical Issues."

Another interest is the field of "science studies," which is an amalgam of history of science, philosophy of science and social studies of science.

  

Selected Publications

Gifford, F. 1986. Sober’s use of "unanimity" in the units of selection problem. Proceedings of the Philosophy of Science Association 1986 1:473-482.

Gifford, F. 1986. The conflict between randomized clinical trials and the therapeutic obligation. The Journal of Medicine and Philosophy 11:347-366.

Gifford, F. 1989. Complex genetic causation of human disease: Critiques of and rationales for heritability and path analysis. Theoretical Medicine 10:107-122.

Gifford, F. 1990. Genetic traits. Biology and Philosophy 5:327-347.

Gifford, F. 1995. Community equipoise and the ethics of randomized clinical trials. Bioethics 9(2):127-148.

Grumet, R. and F. Gifford. 1998. Plant biotechnology in the US: Issues and challenges en route to commercialization. HortScience 33(2):187-192.