Scientific advice and the ideal of certainty

Anna Paldam Folker; Peter Sandøe

Scientific advice and the ideal of certainty

In: Ethics and the politics of food

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Anna Paldam Folker

Anna Paldam Folker Danish Centre for Bioethics and Risk Assessment, The Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University, Denmark, Rolighedsvej 25C, 1958 Frederiksberg C, Denmark, apf@kvl.dk

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Peter Sandøe

Peter Sandøe Danish Centre for Bioethics and Risk Assessment, The Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University, Denmark, Rolighedsvej 25C, 1958 Frederiksberg C, Denmark, apf@kvl.dk

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Type:: Chapter

Pages:: 114–118

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.3920/9789086865758_018

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The role of scientific adviser to the general public is potentially tricky in that it involves a number of possible tensions between the requirements of science and the requirements of scientific advice. One such tension concerns the management and presentation of scientific uncertainty. While uncertainty is at the heart of science, scientific advice seems to call for certainty and unambiguous recommendations. In the first part of the paper we illustrate this tension by presenting the findings of an interview study of Danish nutritional scientists. The study shows that nutritional scientists feel their roles as ‘public advisers’ and ‘scientists’ differ in that the former requires an appearance of certainty that relegates scientific uncertainty to the background. In the second part of the paper we question the premise that certainty is a virtue in scientific advice. The role of the scientific adviser to the public is to offer practical guidance – something which does not necessarily require certainty from the adviser. We argue that it is possible for scientific experts to convey scientific uncertainty while at the same time to deliver clear advice but that scientists collectively should make an effort to avoid conflicting recommendations.

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Ethics and the politics of food

Preprints of the 6th Congress of the European Society for Agricultural and Food Ethics

E-Book ISBN:: 9789086865758

Publisher:: Wageningen Academic

Print Publication Date:: 10 Oct 2006

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- Life Sciences

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Scientific advice and the ideal of certainty

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Ethics and the politics of food

Preprints of the 6th Congress of the European Society for Agricultural and Food Ethics

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