There are widespread calls for increased demographic diversity in science, often linked to the epistemic claim that including more perspectives will improve the quality of the knowledge produced. By distinguishing between demographic and epistemic diversity, we show that this is only true some of the time. There are cases where increasing demographic diversity will not bring about the necessary epistemic diversity and cases where failing to exclude some voices reduces the quality of the scientific debate. We seek to resolve these tensions with an analysis that turns on the way the experience-based expertise of non-scientists can be absorbed into mainstream science. Mostly it has to be done via what we call ‘virtual diversity’, in which scientists take responsibility for acquiring interactional expertise in the non-scientific expertise-based domains which they consider provide knowledge valuable to the science. We argue that virtual diversity represents the only feasible option in most scenarios, with cases where demographic diversity or full cultural mergers provide the solution being the exception rather than the rule. This analysis is an exercise in the sociology of knowledge, which is considered as being continuous with philosophy. The paper is prescriptive as well as descriptive, and the moral, cultural, political, and educational implications of the argument are drawn out. A main conclusion is that the acquisition of virtual diversity should be a new norm for science, allowing the voices of experienced non-scientist citizens to be heard but without eroding the institution of science, which continues to be a vital foundation of truth in democracy.

中文翻译：

---

虚拟多样性：解决更广泛的文化与科学机构之间的紧张关系


人们普遍呼吁增加科学领域的人口多样性，这通常与这样一种认识论主张有关，即纳入更多观点将提高所产生知识的质量。通过区分人口统计多样性和认知多样性，我们表明这仅在某些时候是正确的。在某些情况下，增加人口多样性不会带来必要的认知多样性，而在某些情况下，未能排除某些声音会降低科学辩论的质量。我们寻求通过分析来解决这些紧张关系，该分析开启了非科学家基于经验的专业知识被吸收到主流科学的方式。大多数情况下，它必须通过我们所谓的“虚拟多样性”来完成，其中科学家负责获取非科学专业知识领域的互动专业知识，他们认为这些知识为科学提供了有价值的知识。我们认为，虚拟多样性是大多数情况下唯一可行的选择，人口多样性或全面文化融合提供的解决方案是例外而不是规则。这种分析是知识社会学的一种练习，被认为与哲学是连续的。本文既是规定性的，又是描述性的，并阐述了论点的道德、文化、政治和教育含义。主要结论是，获得虚拟多样性应该成为科学的新规范，允许有经验的非科学家公民的声音被听到，但不会侵蚀科学制度，科学制度仍然是民主真理的重要基础。