Is it constitutive of making judgments of the cognitive acceptability of theories that they are made under certain social relations that embody specific social values that have been cultivated among investigators (Helen Longino)? Or is making sound judgments of this kind just a consequence of social interactions that occur under these relations (Philip Kitcher)? While generally endorsing the latter view, I make a distinction, not made by the philosophers under discussion, between sound acceptance and endorsement of a theory, and argue that Longino's view applies to endorsement.
Cognitive values; Social values; Objectivity; Longino; Kitcher; Scientific theory appraisal; Scientific methodology