ABSTRACT
There is a methodologically important distinction between cognitive and social values that can be readily discerned when cognitive values are conceived of as criteria for evaluating how well a scientific theory provides understanding of a phenomenon. Values are properties of an object that are deemed to be criteria for appraising its value and, when adequately possessed by it, to be indicators of its value. Cognitive values became a major topic of discussion in contemporary philosophy largely in response to writings by Thomas Kuhn, Ernan McMullin, and Larry Laudan, all of whom maintain that scientific methodological procedures require making a distinction between cognitive and noncognitive values. A theory is adopted when it is used for the sake of framing and giving direction to ongoing research in a given scientific area, and testing the range of phenomena of which the theory can come to incorporate understanding. Adopting decontextualizing theories is central to interests that motivate and are served by modern scientific research.
