Book review: Ratti, Emanuele; Stapleford, Thomas (eds.) (2022): Science, technology, and virtues

cal ideals. Giving intelligent cases along with a detailed examination of fundamental concepts like purity and truth in science, this text is not only good reads in history and philosophy of science but instructive for further inquiry. Meanwhile, e.g. ideas of ‘epistemic virtues’ have long been washed into descriptions of theories, of methods, and of processes to grasp their overall style and quality, especially in (post) modern science. Ratti’s analysis of instances of ‘virtue-talk’ (p. 149) features this extended conceptional use and highlights the epistemic aspect of scientific activities. In everyday situations ‘in science’, so the story goes, considerations arise that can be captured and described well with (adapted) concepts of virtue. Whereas multifold concepts and their descriptive capacity are acknowledged by a host of literature, only seldom systematic discussion of the underlying ideas occurs. To fill this gap, a detailed overview of the prominent theories is provided, which concludes with a brief exploration of shortfalls, idealization, and misconceptions. In doing so, two concepts of virtue (virtue as excellence and virtue as character) are distinguished. Though attractive, that separation does not concede when valueand virtue-talk converges within the argument. Within technology assessment, it is acknowledged that different valuing practices have been established throughout disciplines involved. Within all these practices, ‘values’ in a broad sense are analyzed because they bring to the fore normative constraints that are at play under the sociotechnical condition co-shaping science and technology. The power of value-talk lies in addressing, examining, and managing conflicting interests and hidden prerequisites. Values can entail virtues, but must not – assessing virtues without weighing them is nonsensical, so valuing comes back in. However, virtues allow a different way of proceeding when related to, e.g., science and technology: While value concepts allow distinct separation, concepts of virtues foremost restrict analytical subdivisions and management approaches. They highlight diversity of correlations and the interplay of conditions. Three texts in different subsections elaborate concepts of virtue in that regards and use ‘virtue’ as signifier to illustrate the complexity Published in 2022, the book “Science, Technology, and Virtues. Contemporary Perspectives” by editors Emanuele Ratti and Thomas Stapleford stands out in contemporary cross-sectional examination of technology and science. Most volumes in this field undeniably give into value-talk, but peculiarly refuse any insights into associated concepts and ideas. With Ratti and Stapleford, fourteen diverse contributions apparently swim against a current by staging the interchange of virtues, science, and technology as an important research perspective.