How Non-Epistemic Values Can Be Epistemically Beneficial in Scientific Classification

Congratulations to Soohyun Ahn on the defense of her PHD thesis, “How Non-Epistemic Values Can Be Epistemically Beneficial in Scientific Classification” on December 6, 2021.

Her committee members included Marc Ereshefsky, Megan Delehanty, C. Kenneth Waters, Henderikus Stam (internal examiner), David Ludwig (external examiner).

We asked Soohyun to provide us with some insight into her thesis, and her graduate studies experience in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Calgary.

Tell us about your thesis topic.

Many people believe that social, moral, and political values are irrelevant to or harmful to scientific inquiry. I investigate how those values are involved in creating and maintaining scientific categories. I argue that scientific classification is substantially laden with those values, and their use can be justified and properly assessed.

What was the most valuable outcome of the Graduate program for you?

As graduate students, we all go through ups and downs. We have amazing highs when our research goes well, or we have a great teaching experience. Still, we also have lows where we question our abilities in completing our degrees, the impact of our research projects, and even our mental health. I shared all those moments of ups and downs with my peers. I am pretty sure that many of them will be lifelong friends. So, I take this friendship as the most valuable outcome of this program.

What are the next steps/plans for you?

I am trying my luck with finding an academic job. I have a few interviews, so hopefully, one of them can turn into a job!