Science ,Technology and Society

To the extent that these norms of social interaction are fulfilled by an epistemic community, the theories they are considering will be subject to the appropriate kind of public critical scrutiny, and their results will be objective. Diverse representation within the community also becomes important, since "a diversity of perspectives is necessary for vigorous and epistemically effective critical discourse" (Longino 2002, 131).

Goldman, Alvin 2001. "Social Epistemology." The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2001 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = < http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2001/entries/epistemology-social/ >.

The greater the diversity in the community, the greater the opportunity for revealing background assumptions that may be shared by large segments of the membership. Once a background assumption is revealed, the process of critical scrutiny determines whether it is acceptable or problematic and in need of rejection. The resultant knowledge will not be aperspectival and will not be free of background assumptions, but it will represent a perspective that is broader than any one individual can bring to the table, and that has been found to be appropriate for the particular epistemic goals of the community.