Testimony and the Scientific Enterprise

Abstract Chapter 1 opens with some conceptual clarifications and a provisional taxonomy of types of scientific testimony. Notably, this includes the distinction between intra-scientific testimony, which takes place between collaborating scientists, and public scientific testimony, which is directed at laypersons and comes in two varieties: scientific expert testimony and science reporting. Scientific expert testimony is characterized by the testifier being a scientific expert. Science reporting, in contrast, is public scientific testimony by testifiers, such as journalists, who often lack scientific expertise. Given this initial clarification, Chapter 1 considers how scientific testimony is related to prominent themes in philosophy of science. These include scientific expertise, scientific collaboration, and the division of cognitive labor. In discussing these themes, Gerken articulates conceptual and empirical arguments that scientific collaboration contributes immensely to the epistemic force of science and that intra-scientific testimony is a vital part of such collaboration.