科学知识经济学研究评述

A Review of Research on the Economics of Scientific Knowledge

科学知识经济学被定义为运用经济学的概念和方法考察“科学知识的认识论本质和价值”。按照科学知识经济学的观点,科学知识的形成是一个社会的过程:一方面,科学家是具有自身利益的个体,在既定目标的驱使下从事研究活动;另一方面,科学研究是在特定的社会组织内开展的,各种科学组织规则发挥着调控科学家个人行为的作用。因此,科学知识可以被视作科学家个人利益和有关社会规则之间互动的产物。这两点分别与经济学中的理性人假设和“无形之手”假说相暗合,这就为经济学方法介入科学和认识论问题的分析提供了前提条件。近年来出现的诸多科学知识经济学相关研究,不外乎基于对科学家利益与科学规则的互动模式的理解。一批学者的学说中包含了科学规则外生给定的论断,而另一些学者则主张规则是通过科学家的行为内生地决定的。本文拟从这一角度出发,将可归入科学知识经济学门类的各种主要观点分门别类进行考察。

The economics of scientific knowledge (ESK) can be defined as the application of concepts and methods in economics to studying the epistemic essence and value of scientific knowledge. According to the viewpoints of ESK, the formation of scientific knowledge is a social process, which implies that, on the one hand, scientists are individuals with their own interest and conduct research with the motivation for achieving certain targets. On the other hand, scientific research is conducted within specific social organizations and various scientific rules work as regulators of scientists act. Hence, scientific knowledge may be deemed as the outcome of interactions between scientists personal interest and relevant social norms. The two points mentioned correspond to the hypotheses of rational person and the invisible hand respectively, providing the prerequisite for utilizing economic approaches in the analysis of philosophy of science and epistemic questions. Most studies classified as ESK are based on the understanding of the modes of interactions between scientists interest and scientific norms. A group of scholars take “externally imposed” norms as given, while others insist that scientific norms are “internally generated” by scientists interest and act. Based on these two different views of scientific norms, this paper categorizes and examines major viewpoints of ESK.