ABSTRACT
In the history of modern philosophy, the idea that natural science is value-free has played an important role in providing a “scientific” basis for metaphysical realism. The sorts of facts natural science discovers are thought to provide a conception of mind-independent reality. According to this metaphysical vision, natural scientific facts play the role of truthmakers for a correspondence theory of truth, as well as supplying privileged objects and properties for legitimate referring expressions within science. Value-neutral facts are the touch-stone of objectivity, features of the world that are as they are quite independently of the mental life of human subjects. The detective’s “Just the facts ma’am” and the debater’s derogatory exclamation “But that’s just a value judgment!” are evidence that the same fact/value dichotomy is also ingrained in the wider culture.
In a recent article on scientific objectivity the author begins,
