Citation:
Economics and Philosophy (2006), 22(2), 191-212.
ISSN:
1474-0028 (online) 0266-2671 (print)
DOI:
10.1017/S0266267106000861
Sponsor:
The authors gratefully acknowledges financial support from DGI grant BEC2002-03715 (Ministerio de Educación y Cultura), PB98-0495-C08-01 and BFF2002-03656 (Ministerio de Educación y Cultura).
Empirical reports on scientific competition show that scientists can be
depicted as self-interested, strategically behaving agents. Nevertheless, we
argue that recognition-seeking scientists will have an interest in establishing
methodological norms which tEmpirical reports on scientific competition show that scientists can be
depicted as self-interested, strategically behaving agents. Nevertheless, we
argue that recognition-seeking scientists will have an interest in establishing
methodological norms which tend to select theories of a high epistemic
value, and that these norms will be still more stringent if the epistemic value
of theories appears in the utility function of scientists, either directly or
instrumentally.[+][-]