The proper ends of science: Philip Kitcher, science, and the good

In Science, Truth, and Democracy, Philip Kitcher challenges the view that science has a single, context-independent, goal, and that the pursuit of this goal is essentially immune from moral critique. He substitutes a context-dependent account of science's goal, and shows that this account subjects science to moral evaluation. I argue that Kitcher's approach must be modified, as his account of science ultimately must be explicated in terms of moral concepts. I attempt, therefore, to give an account of science's goal that is free of direct moral entanglements but still makes this goal context-dependent and leaves the choice of which projects to pursue subject to moral scrutiny.