Responsible MeasurementData EthicsDiversity and Representation |
Scientists often need to explicate and operationalize concepts that come from outside scientific contexts in order to study them. For example, social scientists need to explicate their understanding of 'racism' and operationalize it in observational and experimental contexts prior to conducting studies on the causes or effects of racism. I aim to understand how social, political, and ethical values play a role in choices about how to explicate and operationalize these concepts for scientific purposes.
To determine the extent of racial/ethnic disadvantage and discrimination and the success of ‘positive action’ measures, the EU recommends the collection of statistical data as part of its action plan for tackling racism. This recommendation has been amplified by the calls to close the racial/ethnic data gap. Yet, most European countries (e.g., Germany, France) do not collect racially or ethnically stratified data. My collaborators and I address ethical and epistemic questions such as: Should this data be collected at a national (or international) level? To what extent are racial/ethnic categorizations from the US or UK appropriate and for which purposes? What ethical-epistemic trade-offs must be navigated introducing new racial/ethnic categorizations?
Diversity and representation in any group make a difference to how that group interacts and what knowledge they can produce. I am interested in questions about what sorts of diversity and representation provide access to new knowledge, what the power and limitations of diversity and representation are addressing oppression, and how to assess the causes of diversity and representation in some group. Following the latter question, I have done empirical research on why women and Black students are underrepresented in philosophy relative to men and White students.
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Publications
Daniel James, *Morgan Thompson, Tereza Hendl. (2024). Who Counts in Official Statistics? Ethical-Epistemic Issues in German Migration and the Collection of Racial or Ethnic Data. Journal of Applied Philosophy.
*Morgan Thompson. (2024). Path-Dependence in Measurement: A Problem for Coherentism. Philosophy of Science.
*Morgan Thompson. (2023). Characterizing and Measuring Racial Discrimination in Public Health Research. Philosophy of Science. 90(3): 721-743 [Accepted manuscript]
*Morgan Thompson. (2023). Epistemic Risk in Triangulation: The Case of Implicit Attitudes. Synthese. 201: 1. [pre-print]
*Nick Byrd & Morgan Thompson. (2022). Testing for Implicit Bias: Values, Psychometrics, and Science Communication. WIRES Cognitive Science. 13(5): e1612 [PsyArxiv]
*Morgan Thompson. (2020). Psychological Research on Racial Microaggressions: Community Science and Concept Explication. In Microaggressions and Philosophy. Eds. Lauren Freeman and Jeanine Weekes Schroer. Routledge. [pre-print]
*Morgan Thompson. (2017). Explaining the Gender Gap in Philosophy. Philosophy Compass. 12(3): e12406 [PhilPapers]
- Philosophy blog posts: DailyNous
*Morgan Thompson, Toni Adleberg, Sam Sims, and Eddy Nahmias. (2016). Why Do Women Leave Philosophy? Surveying Students at the Introductory Level. Philosophers' Imprint. 16(6), 1-36. [open access]
- Media coverage: NPR 13.7: Culture and Cosmos, Inside Higher Ed
- Philosophy blog posts: DailyNous, NewApps, Feminist Philosophers
Liam Kofi Bright, Daniel Malinsky, and Morgan Thompson. (2016). Causally Interpreting Intersectionality Theory. Philosophy of Science. 83(1), 60-81. [Academia.edu]
*Toni Adleberg, Morgan Thompson, and Eddy Nahmias. (2014). Do Men and Women Have Different Philosophical Intuitions? Further Data. Philosophical Psychology. 28(5), 615-41. [Academia.edu, PhilPapers]
- Philosophy blog posts: Experimental Philosophy, The Brains Blog
Eddy Nahmias and Morgan Thompson. (2014). A Naturalistic Vision of Free Will. In Current Controversies in Experimental Philosophy, ed. by E. O’Neill and E. Machery. New York: Routledge. 86-103. [PhilPapers]
* indicates primary or shared first authorship
In Progress & Drafts
Morgan Thompson. Paper on conflicts among the political, ethical, and epistemic justifications for community science.
Scientists have become increasingly interested in including the public in the process of scientific research, involving the public in a range of activities from setting the agenda, collecting data, choosing methods, and identifying social impact of the research. Philosophers of science have recently called for science to be more democratized. I distinguish different justifications for including public communities in scientific research: concerns of political legitimacy of research, the desire to correct historical moral inadequacies of scientific research and respect marginalized communities, and the epistemic benefits of diverse viewpoints. However, I claim that these different justifications sometimes recommend incompatible procedures for community science. Thus, practitioners of community science, and philosophers of science who call for it, ought to be clear about which justification(s) they take to be of primary importance.
Morgan Thompson. Paper on U.S. Census race/ethnicity categories and methods in the social sciences.
Morgan Thompson. Paper on the validity of self-report surveys of racial discrimination.
Morgan Thompson. Paper on self-report measures of pain, cervix-related procedures, and evidence regarding pain relief procedures.
* indicates draft available upon request.
Scientists have become increasingly interested in including the public in the process of scientific research, involving the public in a range of activities from setting the agenda, collecting data, choosing methods, and identifying social impact of the research. Philosophers of science have recently called for science to be more democratized. I distinguish different justifications for including public communities in scientific research: concerns of political legitimacy of research, the desire to correct historical moral inadequacies of scientific research and respect marginalized communities, and the epistemic benefits of diverse viewpoints. However, I claim that these different justifications sometimes recommend incompatible procedures for community science. Thus, practitioners of community science, and philosophers of science who call for it, ought to be clear about which justification(s) they take to be of primary importance.
Morgan Thompson. Paper on U.S. Census race/ethnicity categories and methods in the social sciences.
Morgan Thompson. Paper on the validity of self-report surveys of racial discrimination.
Morgan Thompson. Paper on self-report measures of pain, cervix-related procedures, and evidence regarding pain relief procedures.
* indicates draft available upon request.
Public Philosophy and Other Writing
Morgan Thompson. 2023. Epistemic risk in methodological triangulation: the case of implicit attitudes. New Work in Philosophy.
Brains Blog Roundtable discussion on values in cognitive science with Shen-yi Liao, Uwe Peters, and Morgan Thompson. https://philosophyofbrains.com/2022/03/14/brains-blog-roundtable-values-in-cognitive-science.aspx
Eric Schwitzgebel, Liam Kofi Bright, Carolyn Dicey Jennings, Morgan Thompson, and Eric Winsberg. 2021. The Diversity of Philosophy Students and Faculty. The Philosopher’s Magazine Vol.93 No.1: 71-90
Morgan Thompson. 2021. Underrepresentation in Philosophy of Science and What We Can Do About It. Science Visions. Vol 3. No. 1. [Note: Newsletter of the Philosophy of Science Association's Women's Caucus]
Eric Schwitzgebel, Morgan Thompson, Eric Winsberg. 2020. Gender and Sexual Orientation of First-Year Philosophy Students in the U.S. The Splintered Mind.
Morgan Thompson. 2017. The Gender Gap in Philosophy. The Daily Nous.
Morgan Thompson. 2016. Why do Undergratuate Women Stop Studying Philosophy? The Daily Nous.
Toni Adleberg, Morgan Thompson, and Eddy Nahmias. 2013. Do Women Have Different Philosophical Intuitions than Men? Responding to Buckwalter and Stich. The Brains Blog.
Brains Blog Roundtable discussion on values in cognitive science with Shen-yi Liao, Uwe Peters, and Morgan Thompson. https://philosophyofbrains.com/2022/03/14/brains-blog-roundtable-values-in-cognitive-science.aspx
Eric Schwitzgebel, Liam Kofi Bright, Carolyn Dicey Jennings, Morgan Thompson, and Eric Winsberg. 2021. The Diversity of Philosophy Students and Faculty. The Philosopher’s Magazine Vol.93 No.1: 71-90
Morgan Thompson. 2021. Underrepresentation in Philosophy of Science and What We Can Do About It. Science Visions. Vol 3. No. 1. [Note: Newsletter of the Philosophy of Science Association's Women's Caucus]
Eric Schwitzgebel, Morgan Thompson, Eric Winsberg. 2020. Gender and Sexual Orientation of First-Year Philosophy Students in the U.S. The Splintered Mind.
Morgan Thompson. 2017. The Gender Gap in Philosophy. The Daily Nous.
Morgan Thompson. 2016. Why do Undergratuate Women Stop Studying Philosophy? The Daily Nous.
Toni Adleberg, Morgan Thompson, and Eddy Nahmias. 2013. Do Women Have Different Philosophical Intuitions than Men? Responding to Buckwalter and Stich. The Brains Blog.