S3 Ep 8 - Haixin Dang on 'Disagreement in Science'

We have a very special episode today with guest host Dr Joshua Eisenthal interviewing fellow philosopher of science, and good friend, Dr Haixin Dang on the fascinating subject of Disagreement in Science.

It might seem like scientists should always aspire to achieve consensus, and therefore any disagreement in science is a mark of failure. However, as Haixin points out, disagreement is in fact a vital part of healthy scientific practice.

Disagreement helps scientists be reflective about their work, challenging each other to consider alternative positions, question assumptions and further their investigations in a variety of ways.

However, exactly how disagreement works in science, and what kind of disagreements are more or less helpful, has not been well-studied. Haixin suggests a better understanding of scientific disagreement may be important for science communication and tackling science scepticism. If we can better explain how scientists actually make progress, perhaps members of the public will be more understanding when the experts disagree.

A transcript of the episode can be found here: https://www.hpsunimelb.org/post/s3-ep-8-haixin-dang-on-disagreement-in-science

Further links:

• Website: Haixin Dang 
• Journal Article: Minority Reports: Registering Dissent in Science | Philosophy of Science | Haixin Dang
• Journal Article: Do Collaborators in Science Need to Agree? | Haixin Dang
• Physics Examples Mentioned
  • No more doubts: Two independent studies confirm LIGO’s Nobel discovery | Ars Technica
  • Fermilab Says Particle Is Heavy Enough to Break the Standard Model | Quanta Magazine
  • James Webb Space Telescope deepens major debate over universe's expansion rate | Space
  • Faster Than Lightspeed: These Neutrinos Were Faster Than The Speed Of Light—Until They Weren’t | Yale Scientific Magazine

Thanks for listening to The HPS Podcast with current producers, Samara Greenwood and Carmelina Contarino. You can find more about us on our blog, website, bluesky, twitter, instagram and facebook feeds. Music by ComaStudio.

This podcast would not be possible without the support of School of Historical and Philosophical Studies at the University of Melbourne.

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