A Role for Science in Public Policy? The Obstacles, Illustrated by the Case of Breast Cancer Screening Policy

Abstract

A coherent and helpful public policy based on science is difficult to achieve for at least three reasons. First, there are purely practical problems—for example, that scientific experts often disagree on policy-relevant questions and their debates often continue well beyond policy appropriate timelines. Second, there are epistemic problems—for example, that science is hardly the neutral supplier of factual information (free of contested social values) that traditionally has been supposed. And third, there are social problems: given the commercialization of today’s science and its enduring limitations (sexism, racism, homophobia, ableism, etc.), much of scientific research today fails to meet the moral and political standards one would expect it to meet in order to inform public policy. In this paper, we examine such problems in the context of breast cancer screening policy and suggest the role philosophy of science should play in dealing with the situation.