Social science as an ethical practice

The fact-value distinction and the conception of science as a practice put a premium on the ethics of the scholarly community. The principles of ethics, not those of logic, govern this process of knowledge production. Values not only enable facts, but sustain our identities as scholars and enable the practice of science. In the absence of ethical commitments, we would become indistinct from polemicists and spin doctors. Ethics are instantiated and sustained through practices. As graduate students, we learn professional ethics the same way we learn other values and habits: by emulating those we respect. It is imperative that we practice and communicate tolerance and pluralism to our graduate students and younger colleagues, not merely the professional skills we associate with the production and evaluation of research.