Is a Little Pollution Good for You?
Incorporating Societal Values in Environmental Research
Kevin C. Elliott
Reviews and Awards
"Kevin C. Elliot provides an excellent synopsis of the challenges facing research scientists today." --Environmental Ethics
"One of the few (if only?) books that attempts to work across debates concerning values in science and social epistemology, to develop insights not just about science in policy but also policy for science. This kind of finely textured analysis of the specific social institutions around scientific practice is desperately needed. Elliott's book opens this terrain up for examination, debate, and hopefully, eventual improvement."--Heather Douglas, Philosophy of Science
"Kevin Elliott has taken on a particularly controversial scientific view, namely hormesis, and utilized it to clearly identify various places non-epistemic social values can and should be incorporated into core scientific activities that bear on public policy issues. This comprehensive, thoughtful, and careful discussion should now be part of the dialogue about social values in science-policy discussions."--Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews
"This is a timely, well-researched and compelling book. Elliott admirably combines insights and strategies from philosophy of science with those of applied ethics to carefully analyze contemporary science and science policy around pollutants and human health. There is a growing interest in the philosophy of science community in bringing the work of philosophers to bear on contemporary social issues. This book stands out as a model for how to do just that."--Sandra D. Mitchell, University of Pittsburgh
"Is A Little Pollution Good For You? by Kevin Elliott, is a wonderfully clear and insightful book dealing with the interplay between social values and economic and political interests in scientific research. Elliott's book is a must read for researchers, scholars, and students who are interested in the relationship between science, industry, and society."--David B. Resnik, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health, author of Playing Politics with Science
"The discussion of ethics for experts is especially well done."--BioScience magazine