Information elaboration and epistemic effects of diversity
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Information elaboration and epistemic effects of diversity Daniel Steel1 · Sina Fazelpour2 · Bianca Crewe2 · Kinley Gillette2 Received: 31 July 2018 / Accepted: 22 January 2019 © The Author(s) 2019
Abstract We suggest that philosophical accounts of epistemic effects of diversity have given insufficient attention to the relationship between demographic diversity and information elaboration (IE), the process whereby knowledge dispersed in a group is elicited and examined. We propose an analysis of IE that clarifies hypotheses proposed in the empirical literature and their relationship to philosophical accounts of diversity effects. Philosophical accounts have largely overlooked the possibility that demographic diversity may improve group performance by enhancing IE, and sometimes fail to explore the relationship between diversity and IE altogether. We claim these omissions are significant from both a practical and theoretical perspective. Moreover, we explain how the overlooked explanations suggest that epistemic benefits of diversity can depend on epistemically unjust social dynamics. Keywords Diversity · Science · Social epistemology · Modelling · Epistemic injustice
1 Introduction The effect of diversity on science is an active topic of research among philosophers (Harding 2015; Intemann 2010; Kitcher 1990; Longino 1990, 2002; Muldoon 2013; Solomon 2001; Steel et al. 2018; Zollman 2010). Some recent contributors to this subject argue that philosophical models of diversity in science should be more closely linked to the target systems they purport to describe (Martini and Pinto 2016; Grim et al. 2019). An important step in this direction is to examine empirical research on how diversity affects group performance. However, doing this is hampered by the sparsity of
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Daniel Steel [email protected]
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W. Maurice Young Centre for Applied Ethics, University of British Columbia, 6356 Agricultural Road, Vancouver, BC V62 1Z2, Canada
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Department of Philosophy, University of British Columbia, 1866 Main Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z1, Canada
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empirical research on the effects of diversity in science, especially along demographic lines such as gender or ethnicity (Hall et al. 2018, p. 541). But there is a large and rich empirical literature examining the effects of diversity on group performance in areas outside of academic science, such as business and management. While it would be unwise to assume that such findings transfer without modification to science, it would also be highly inefficient to disregard this work altogether. That is especially the case for research on explanations of how diversity impacts the performance of groups or teams.1 An explanation that has empirical support in one social context is reasonably taken as a possibility to be tested in others, especially when the underlying psychological or social mechanisms appear fairly general. Consequently, the present paper examines empirical research on diversity both within and without science, and explores its implications for accounts o
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