Timeline for Is it bad practice to study or reference the work of an academic who has fallen from grace?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
16 events
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| May 5, 2021 at 18:22 | comment | added | lalala | What about results from unethical research? I would say one shouldnt cite research conducted by Mengele and others doing similiar.. | |
| Apr 13, 2017 at 12:49 | history | edited | CommunityBot |
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| Mar 20, 2017 at 6:42 | comment | added | Ink blot | Case in point, Frege turned out to be a staunch antisemite and misogynist. We still use the foundations he laid to mathematical logic, and I'm sure that also in philosophy they still use his arguments. | |
| Mar 18, 2017 at 12:50 | comment | added | Karl | @PeteL.Clark (I'm sorry for the superfluous apostroph.) I don't need to watch other's experiments, I need to be convinced they are reproducible, before building on them. And yes, I work in a subject where repetition is usually faster, cheaper and easier than in medicine or psychology. And I have all sympathy for outside victims (patients, taxpayers,etc) of scientific fakery, but that's not the point of the present questions, is it? | |
| Mar 18, 2017 at 9:27 | history | edited | einpoklum | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Mar 17, 2017 at 21:23 | comment | added | Pete L. Clark | @Karl: "It's simply that any relevant fake becomes obvious within a very short time." Well, that's simply not true. You can read about some counterexamples here: onlineuniversities.com/blog/2012/02/…. There are unfortunately hundreds and thousands more where that came from. "Why would I use work where I cannot judge it's [sic] validity?" This is a good question to ask on this site if you actually want to know the answer: there are several reasons. One easy one: you don't watch the experiments being performed. | |
| Mar 17, 2017 at 20:15 | comment | added | Karl | Btw.: Taboos only frighten the uneducated. That's not how the scientific world operates. It's simply that any relevant fake becomes obvious within a very short time. You must be either working safely in a forgotten corner or be in total panic to attempt it. The famous cases of of the last years prove the latter point. | |
| Mar 17, 2017 at 20:06 | comment | added | Karl | @PeteL.Clark Why would I use work where I cannot judge it's validity? If I cannot judge it, I guess it's either irrelevant for my work or I'm the wrong guy for my job. | |
| Mar 17, 2017 at 13:34 | comment | added | Pete L. Clark | @Karl: Research fraud includes more than just theft of others' work. In practice can be very difficult to tell whether research fraud has been committed in an academic work. Academia addresses this mostly by trust and imparting the highest possible taboo on research fraud. Once you know that an academic has published enough fraudulent work in order to "fall from grace," it does seem like a good idea to avoid reading and using their work, because you may not be in a position to properly vet it. | |
| Mar 17, 2017 at 8:10 | comment | added | Chris H | I think this covers all the issues very well, except that in some cases there is a clearly best textbook for learning from (or reference). In that case the decision is harder (especially if you're going to recommend it in a teaching situation). | |
| Mar 17, 2017 at 5:54 | comment | added | Karl | Not so different case, imo: You still cite him, with due caution and some double-checking, for his original, valid ideas. No reason to steal from him, just because he's a thief. | |
| Mar 17, 2017 at 4:44 | vote | accept | justin | ||
| Mar 16, 2017 at 19:40 | comment | added | Pete L. Clark | @k_g: Agreed, that would be a much different matter. I took from the OP's question that this was not the case. | |
| Mar 16, 2017 at 19:24 | comment | added | k_g | Another edge case might be if an academic's fall from grace is related to research fraud or something that might be relevant to the accuracy of their discoveries | |
| Mar 16, 2017 at 17:29 | history | edited | Pete L. Clark | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Mar 16, 2017 at 17:14 | history | answered | Pete L. Clark | CC BY-SA 3.0 |