•  1005
    The possibility of morality
    Philosophical Studies 163 (3): 627-636. 2013.
    Despite much discussion over the existence of moral facts, metaethicists have largely ignored the related question of their possibility. This paper addresses the issue from the moral error theorist’s perspective, and shows how the arguments that error theorists have produced against the existence of moral facts at this world, if sound, also show that moral facts are impossible, at least at worlds non-morally identical to our own and, on some versions of the error theory, at any world. So error t…Read more
  •  116
    Pragmatic antirealism: a new antirealist strategy
    Philosophical Studies 161 (3): 349-366. 2012.
    In everyday speech we seem to refer to such things as abstract objects, moral properties, or propositional attitudes that have been the target of metaphysical and/or epistemological objections. Many philosophers, while endorsing scepticism about some of these entities, have not wished to charge ordinary speakers with fundamental error, or recommend that the discourse be revised or eliminated. To this end a number of non-revisionary antirealist strategies have been employed, including expressivis…Read more
  •  43
    Balancing Benefits and Risks of Immortal Data
    with Oscar A. Zarate, Julia Green Brody, Monica D. Ramirez-Andreotta, Laura Perovich, and Jacob Matz
    Hastings Center Report 46 (1): 36-45. 2015.
    An individual's health, genetic, or environmental-exposure data, placed in an online repository, creates a valuable shared resource that can accelerate biomedical research and even open opportunities for crowd-sourcing discoveries by members of the public. But these data become “immortalized” in ways that may create lasting risk as well as benefit. Once shared on the Internet, the data are difficult or impossible to redact, and identities may be revealed by a process called data linkage, in whic…Read more
  •  29
    Survey on Using Ethical Principles in Environmental Field Research with Place-Based Communities
    with Dianne Quigley, Alana Levine, David A. Sonnenfeld, Qing Tian, and Xiaofan Wei
    Science and Engineering Ethics 25 (2): 477-517. 2019.
    Researchers of the Northeast Ethics Education Partnership at Brown University sought to improve an understanding of the ethical challenges of field researchers with place-based communities in environmental studies/sciences and environmental health by disseminating a questionnaire which requested information about their ethical approaches to these researched communities. NEEP faculty sought to gain actual field guidance to improve research ethics and cultural competence training for graduate stud…Read more
  •  8
    “A Lab of Our Own”: Environmental Causation of Breast Cancer and Challenges to the Dominant Epidemiological Paradigm
    with Laura Senier, Rebecca Gasior Altman, Rachel Morello-Frosch, Stephen Zavestoski, Brian Mayer, and Sabrina McCormick
    Science, Technology, and Human Values 31 (5): 499-536. 2006.
    There are challenges to the dominant research paradigm in breast cancer science. In the United States, science and social activism create paradigmatic shifts. Using interviews, ethnographic observations, and an extensive review of the literature, we create a three-dimensional model to situate changes in scientific controversy concerning environmental causes of breast cancer. We identify three paradigm challenges posed by activists and some scientists: to move debates about causation upstream to …Read more
  •  4
    Science, Policy, Activism, and War: Defining the Health of Gulf War Veterans
    with Brian Mayer, Sabrina McCormick, Meadow Linder, and Stephen Zavestoski
    Science, Technology, and Human Values 27 (2): 171-205. 2002.
    Many servicemen and women began suffering from a variety of symptoms and illnesses soon after the 1991 Gulf War. Some veterans believe that their illnesses are related to toxic exposures during their service, though scientific research has been largely unable to demonstrate any link. Disputes over the definition, etiology, and treatment of Gulf War-related illnesses continue. The authors examine the roles of science, policy, and veteran activism in developing an understanding of GWRIs. They argu…Read more
  •  3
    Sheldon Krimsky: An Appreciation of an STS Scholar Par Excellence
    Science, Technology, and Human Values 47 (4): 627-630. 2022.