In this paper I argue that some examples of what we label ‘algorithmic bias’ would be better understood as cases of institutional bias. Even when individual algorithms appear unobjectionable, they may produce biased outcomes given the way that they are embedded in the background structure of our social world. Therefore, the problematic outcomes associated with the use of algorithmic systems cannot be understood or accounted for without a kind of structural account. Understanding algorithmic bias as institutional bias in particular (as (...) opposed to other structural accounts) has at least two important upshots. First, I argue that the existence of bias that is intrinsic to certain institutions (whether algorithmic or not) suggests that at least in some cases, the algorithms now substituting as pieces of institutional norms or rules are not “fixable” in the relevant sense, because the institutions they help make up are not fixable. Second, I argue that in other cases, changing the algorithms being used within our institutions (rather than getting rid of them entirely) is essential to changing the background structural conditions of our society. (shrink)

This paper employs structural topic modeling (STM) to describe the academic philosophy landscape in Brazil. Based on a public national database, a corpus consisting of 12,515 abstracts of monographs defended in philosophy graduate programs between 1991 and 2021 was compiled. The final STM model identified 74 meaningful research topics, clustered into 7 thematic categories. This study discusses the prevalence of the most significant topics and categories, their trends across three decades, and their (positive or negative) association with the supervisor's gender. (...) Results show the first empirical evidence that Brazilian philosophical research exhibits a greater focus on philosophers than on specific themes or problems. Moreover, by visualizing the variations in topic prevalence over time, it was possible to track the rise or decline of the major interest categories and topics. Finally, results also show which topics are more influenced or less influenced by gender. (shrink)

Citizen science (CS) is an umbrella term for research with a significant amount of contributions from volunteers. Those volunteers can occupy a hybrid role, being both ‘researcher’ and ‘subject’ at the same time. This has repercussions for questions about responsibility and credit, e.g. pertaining to the issue of authorship. In this paper, we first review some existing guidelines for authorship and their applicability to CS. Second, we assess the claim that the guidelines from the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (...) (ICMJE), known as ‘the Vancouver guidelines’, may lead to exclusion of deserving citizen scientists as authors. We maintain that the idea of including citizen scientists as authors is supported by at least two arguments: transparency and fairness. Third, we argue that it might be plausible to include groups as authors in CS. Fourth and finally, we offer a heuristic list of seven recommendations to be considered when deciding about whom to include as an author of a CS publication. (shrink)

Tekst predstavlja analizu situacije sa ženama filozofkinjama u Hrvatskoj tijekom komunističko-socijalističkog razdoblja (1945. - 1989.). Analiza se usredotočuje na dva aspekta: stjecanje doktorata iz filozofije i publikacije. Naša analiza pokazuje da su filozofkinje tijekom tog razdoblja po oba kriterija, odnosno po broju doktora filozofije i broju publikacija, bile proporcionalno na otprilike istoj razini kao i danas u zapadnim zemljama, uključujući današnju Republiku Hrvatsku. Komunistički socijalizam je bio koristan za filozofkinje na dva načina. Prvo, administrativno, uklonio je prepreke za zapošljavanje žena (...) na sveučilištima i znanstvenim institutima. Drugo, komunizam i socijalizam, sami po sebi filozofske i socio-filozofske doktrine, nudili su niz novih tema, istraživanja i elaboracija za daljnji razvoj. Ti čimbenici omogućili su da u Hrvatskoj, koja je u to vrijeme bila ekonomski i obrazovno mnogo manje razvijena od većine današnjih zapadnih zemalja, proporcionalno isti broj filozofkinja ima akademsku poziciju kao danas u zapadnom svijetu (uključujući današnju Hrvatsku). Također smo analizirali sedam najvažnijih filozofskih časopisa koji su izlazili u to vrijeme i utvrdili da je između 1945. i 1989. godine 15,4% tekstova bilo napisano od strane žena. Omjer ženskog autorstva je 0,2. To je impresivan broj ako uzmemo u obzir da je u to vrijeme omjer ženskog autorstva bio veći nego trenutno na JSTOR-u, uzimajući u obzir razlike u postupcima objavljivanja tada i sada. (shrink)