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255The Difference-to-Inference Model for Values in ScienceRes Philosophica 100 (4): 423-447. 2023.The value-free ideal for science holds that values should not influence the core features of scientific reasoning. We defend the difference-to-inference model of value-permeation, which holds that value-permeation in science is problematic when values make a difference to the inferences made about a hypothesis. This view of value-permeation is superior to existing views, and it suggests a corresponding maxim—namely, that scientists should strive to eliminate differences to inference. This maxim …Read more
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248Red herrings about relative measures: A response to Hoefer and KraussStudies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 92 (C): 56-59. 2022.
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246Fast ScienceThe British Journal for the Philosophy of Science. forthcoming.If scientists violate principles and practices of routine science to quickly develop interventions against catastrophic threats, they are engaged in what I call fast science. The magnitude, imminence, and plausibility of a threat justify engaging in and acting on fast science. Yet, that justification is incomplete. I defend two principles to assess fast science, which say: fast science should satisfy as much as possible the reliability-enhancing features of routine science, and the fast science …Read more
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241Conventional Choices in Outcome Measures Influence Meta-Analytic ResultsPhilosophy of Science 89 (5): 949-959. 2022.It is a plausible speculation that conventional choices in outcome measures might influence the results of meta-analyses. We test that speculation by simulating data from trials on antidepressants. We vary real drug effectiveness while modulating conventional values for outcome measures. We had previously shown that one conventional choice used in meta-analyses of antidepressants falls in a narrow range of values that maximize estimates of effectiveness. Our present analysis investigates why thi…Read more
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237Evidence of effectivenessStudies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 91 (C): 288-295. 2022.There are two competing views regarding the role of mechanistic knowledge in inferences about the effectiveness of interventions. One view holds that inferences about the effectiveness of interventions should be based only on data from population-level studies (often statistical evidence from randomised trials). The other view holds that such inferences must be based in part on mechanistic evidence. The competing views are local principles of inference, the plausibility of which can be assessed …Read more
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237Philosophical Issues in Psychiatry: Nosology, Kendler and Parnas, eds. (review)Metapsychology Online Reviews 15 (15). 2012.
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226The Problem of New Evidence: P-Hacking and Pre-Analysis PlansDiametros 17 (66): 10-33. 2020.We provide a novel articulation of the epistemic peril of p-hacking using three resources from philosophy: predictivism, Bayesian confirmation theory, and model selection theory. We defend a nuanced position on p-hacking: p-hacking is sometimes, but not always, epistemically pernicious. Our argument requires a novel understanding of Bayesianism, since a standard criticism of Bayesian confirmation theory is that it cannot represent the influence of biased methods. We then turn to pre-analysis pla…Read more
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213Simulation of Trial Data to Test Speculative Hypotheses about Research MethodsIn Kristien Hens & Andreas de Block (eds.), Advances in experimental philosophy of medicine, Bloomsbury Academic. pp. 111-128. 2023.We simulate trial data to test speculative claims about research methods, such as the impact of publication bias.
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169Drug Regulation and the Inductive Risk CalculusIn Kevin Christopher Elliott & Ted Richards (eds.), Exploring Inductive Risk: Case Studies of Values in Science, Oup Usa. pp. 17-36. 2017.Drug regulation is fraught with inductive risk. Regulators must make a prediction about whether or not an experimental pharmaceutical will be effective and relatively safe when used by typical patients, and such predictions are based on a complex, indeterminate, and incomplete evidential basis. Such inductive risk has important practical consequences. If regulators reject an experimental drug when it in fact has a favourable benefit/harm profile, then a valuable intervention is denied to the pub…Read more
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129Debates about the genuine disease status of controversial diseases rely on intuitions about a range of factors. Adopting tools from experimental philosophy, this paper explores some of the factors that influence judgments about whether low sexual desire should be considered a disease and whether it should be medically treated. Drawing in part on some assumptions underpinning a divide in the literature between viewing low sexual desire as a genuine disease and seeing it as improperly medicalized,…Read more
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105The Natural Probability Theory of StereotypesDiametros 1-27. forthcoming.A stereotype is a belief or claim that a group of people has a particular feature. Stereotypes are expressed by sentences that have the form of generic statements, like “Canadians are nice.” Recent work on generics lends new life to understanding generics as statements involving probabilities. I argue that generics (and thus sentences expressing stereotypes) can take one of several forms involving conditional probabilities, and these probabilities have what I call a naturalness requirement. This…Read more
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56Medical NihilismOxford University Press. 2018.Medical nihilism is the view that we should have little confidence in the effectiveness of medical interventions. Jacob Stegenga argues persuasively that this is how we should see modern medicine, and suggests that medical research must be modified, clinical practice should be less aggressive, and regulatory standards should be enhanced.
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40Care and cure: an introduction to philosophy of medicineUniversity of Chicago Press. 2018.Concepts. Health ; Disease ; Death -- Models and kinds. Causation and kinds ; Holism and reductionism ; Controversial diseases -- Evidence and inference. Evidence in medicine ; Objectivity and the social structure of science ; Inference ; Effectiveness, skepticism, and alternatives ; Diagnosis and screening -- Values and policy. Psychiatry: care or control? ; Policy ; Public health.
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27Book ForumStudies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 81 101274. 2020.
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24A theory of evidence for evidence-based policyIn Philip Dawid, William Twining & Mimi Vasilaki (eds.), Evidence, Inference and Enquiry, Oxford University Press. 2011.
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Measuring harmsIn Miriam Solomon, Jeremy R. Simon & Harold Kincaid (eds.), The Routledge Companion to Philosophy of Medicine, Routledge. 2016.