| This thesis investigates critical issues about the use of intellectual property rights and funding in the Human Genome Project, and explores the distortion of epistemic values by market selectors. It affirms that the view of science as a disinterested inquiry into the natural world is inadequate if we are to account for both its success and abuse. Rather, Ernan McMullin's consideration of science as an inter-subjective affair provides a point of departure from which the scientific enterprise can be situated in the social milieu. For the first time, an account of value oppositions between “Big Science” and the Free Market is proposed based on the epistemic/non-epistemic distinction. Finally, solutions for science policy are offered to counter the pseudoscientific effects of the market with the goal to preserve the integrity of science and human morality in 21st century biomedical research. |
