The epistemic importance of ethical neutrality in science

Recent political initiatives calling for greater "viewpoint diversity" among scientists underscore the importance of ethical neutrality in the internal workings of science. In contrast, some proponents of the Values in Science movement argue that scientists should employ the morally correct values in conducting their research and when evaluating peers. This has given rise to a new demarcation problem: an attempt to identify, on principled grounds, which ethical and political values should/should not influence scientific research. We argue that only epistemic values, such as those outlined by sociologist Robert Merton, should influence the internal workings of science. Ethical and political disagreements among scientists are bound to emerge, especially over the long run. If researchers were to accommodate shifting ethical and political landscapes in their work, it would erode trust among scientists who must build upon each other's findings, while corrupting more formalized policy-making procedures already designed to integrate neutral scientific findings with non-epistemic values.