An important principle of science is that testable claims about the universe should be understood as existing independently of the person who advocates them. In this way, science distinguishes itself from religion, which devalues the claims of heretics and recusants on the basis of their supposedly defective souls; and from the pseudoscience embedded in radical political movements (as with the Nazis, who spuriously rejected what they called “Jewish science,” and Stalinists, who similarly railed against science deemed “bourgeois”).
Unfortunately, in recent years, this traditional epistemological approach has come under attack. Academics increasingly are being encouraged to announce their race, sex, gender identity, social class, and disability status under the conceit that this personal information is germane to a scientific appraisal of their scholarship. As a recent controversy engulfing the prestigious journal Perspectives on Psychological Science shows, the career risks are high for those willing to speak out against this tendency.
The furore erupted when University of Heidelberg psychology professor Klaus Fiedler, the then-newly installed editor of Perspectives on Psychological Science, set out to publish an article by cognitive neurophysiologist Bernhard Hommel, critiquing a 2020 article by Stanford University psychology professor Steven Othello Roberts. Following on his oft-stated belief that the discipline of psychology is systemically racist, Roberts had argued that journal editors should track the race of their contributing authors with a view toward enforcing diversity targets, while authors should similarly track (and be made to justify) the racial composition of their research samples. Hommel, by contrast, shares our own belief that focusing closely on skin color in this way represents an intrusion of political activism that compromises scientific freedom and independence.
If Fiedler had left it at that, he might still be the editor of Perspectives.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member