Knowledge Claims Can Conflict

13

Roger’s goal of sorting and evaluating the various claims in the literature enabled him to detect controversies in the readings and to recognize these controversies as critical areas for his own work. For example, issues such as the role of consent and the need for a “morality condition,” alluded to above, are debated in the readings and became central concerns in Roger’s thinking. An early interview comment indicates that he saw the debates in the literature as his starting points:

you have to look at the literature first [. . .] [it] suggests to me ideas of what criticisms I might want to make . . . how I might want to view the different definitions say . . . or justifications in relation to one another . . . what’s better . . . what’s worse . . . who took what into account . . . um . . . it’s just a matter of generating . . . as it were preliminary hints of what to say when you do the talking.

14

Janet reacted to controversy in the readings quite differently. She did notice some disagreement among these authors, particularly when differences were clearly signaled as in the Childress critique. But it was clear from her interview comments that Janet was uncomfortable with controversy and had few strategies for dealing with it. She describes a disagreement over the issue of morality in the following interview excerpt:

like one of them was saying that um... in order to do a paternalistic act you have to be immoral... and then I think somebody else said you don’t necessarily... I don’t understand that... like I don’t understand why if you’re doing something to help somebody... and when... what you’re doing is going to bring about such a good consequence compared to what’s going to happen if you don’t act . . . I don’t see that as being immoral... and they say well if you like do something against someone else’s will... then it’s immoral and in order to be paternalistic you have to always... like I don’t understand that in paternalism...

Though Janet clearly sides with one of the two positions, the fact that the authors do not agree presented her with a dilemma. Her first inclination was to simply report both sides. She asked the interviewer, “do you want a definite decision... definition... can I like... say I don’t know... and give both sides?” The interviewer told Janet she would need to resolve this issue and to build her own definition. Consequently, Janet began her next work session by announcing a plan to go through her notes and write down “only what I think I agree with and it’s going to be my definition.”

15

This approach helped Janet position herself in the ongoing conversation, but unlike Roger who used such controversies as a springboard from which to develop his own position, Janet set out to align herself with one of the positions already available. Unfortunately, this strategy was not so straightforward. On the issue of whether or not the paternalist must be “qualified” in some way in order for an act to be considered paternalistic, Janet had trouble deciding which view to agree with:

so ah... I... I agree... with critique... that the Gert Culver definition number two... that paternalist is qualified... is a bunch of baloney... is stupid...

so um... Childress, the Gert Culver critique... says that example... young child helping drunk parent... so the purpose of this example is to show that someone who’s NOT qualified can help [. . .] it doesn’t prove anything... cause... this doesn’t prove anything... cause... um... I don’t think that a child could do anything for a parent without the parent’s consent [. . .] so I think that the critique is not good...

Janet was still puzzling over this point two sessions later as she reread her notes:

so here I’m saying he doesn’t have to be qualified... and here I’m saying... that you HAVE to be qualified... here I’m saying the critique is not good... here I’m saying I agree with the critique... so how am I supposed to write this paper if I keep changing my mind?... this is ridiculous...

At this point, Janet went through the alternatives once again and concluded that she agreed with Gert and Culver that the paternalist must be qualified to act, but with “a variation.” She did not carry out this rather expert move, however; the “variation” was never articulated and the issue is not mentioned at all in Janet’s final draft. This “choosing sides” strategy for handling controversy is consistent with Janet’s “outsider” view of her own authorship—author as reporter rather than creator—and the corresponding goal to report only that which is true. In those cases when she was able to determine which of two conflicting positions was correct, the topic made it into her paper. If she was unable to make this determination, however, the topic was omitted. This strategy clearly leaves Janet on the outside looking in. Though she weighed each view carefully, was not afraid to disagree, and at one point even considered formulating a “variation” of her own, Janet made no sustained attempt to insert herself into this conversation when she wrote.