Facts and Values

Facts and Values – A

Facts, Values and Quanta

Quantum mechanics is a fundamentally probabilistic theory (at least so far as the empirical predictions are concerned). It follows that, if one wants to properly understand quantum mechanics, it is essential to clearly understand the meaning of probability statements. The interpretation of probability has excited nearly as much philosophical controversy as the interpretation of quantum mechanic...

Professional recommendations: disclosing facts and values.

It is not unusual for patients and their families, when confronted with difficult medical choices, to ask their physicians for advice. This paper outlines the shades of meaning of two questions frequently put to physicians: "What should I do?" and "What would you do?" It is argued that these are not questions about objective matters of fact. Hence, any response to such questions requires an und...

Facts , Values , and the Burden of Proof — — — — — — ✦ — — — — — —

I examine here the connection between facts, values, and the burden of proof, and I suggest a relationship that is always present, though seldom acknowledged. We like to think of ourselves as conducting value-free scientific inquiry, yet values inevitably intrude. This inevitable intrusion does not necessarily suggest the abandonment of the attempt to keep facts and values separate, but it does...

Wolfgang Köhler on facts and values

developed philosophical ideas as well. To be sure, he never considered himself a professional philosopher. Rather, as a consequence of his permanent commitment to scientific investigation and scientific methods, Köhler was eager to reflect upon the consequences of applying a scientific world view to human life. In his own words, he discussed the question of The place of value in a world of fact...