WILLIAMSON’S DILEMMA: THE CLAIM OF IGNORANCE AS AN ELEMENT OF SCIENTIFIC COMMUNICATION
Anastasia Valerievna Golubinskaya
National Research Nizhny Novgorod State University named after N.I. Lobachevsky, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia
Keywords: claim of ignorance, scientific ignorance, scientific uncertainty, external scientific communication, epistemic dilemma, normative dilemma, Williamson’s dilemma
Abstract
The article considers the thesis that the claim of ignorance plays an important role in external scientific communication and constitutes a key element of normative epistemic dilemmas. As a starting point, T. Williamson’s problem of the mathematician’s dilemma is examined, which suggests that epistemic dilemmas arise from conflicts between norms of knowledge. While critics of this problem argue that such conflicts rarely occur in real science, the article shows that they do arise, but not within science itself, rather in the sphere of its external communication. Williamson’s original dilemma can be resolved by making a claim of ignorance. However, examples related to the COVID-19 pandemic illustrate that the role of such claims in science differs from how they are perceived in politics. In the context of contradictions between science and the political sphere, external social and political factors make it difficult to openly acknowledge scientific uncertainty, forcing scientists to make unambiguous statements even when certainty is unattainable. This not only undermines public trust in science, but also turns scientific uncertainty into a tool for political struggle.,
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