What Does it Mean to say That Science is Value-Laden?

The literature on values in science contains countless claims to the effect that a particular type of scientific choice is or is not value-laden. This chapter exposes an ambiguity in the notion of a value-laden choice. In the first half, I distinguish four ways a choice can be said to be value-laden. In the second half, I illustrate the usefulness of this taxonomy by assessing arguments about whether the value-ladenness of science is inevitable. I focus on the “randomizer reply,” which claims that, in principle, scientists could always avoid value-laden choices by flipping a coin. Readers may be interested in these Handbook chapters as well: Matthew J. Brown, “Recent Arguments for the Ideal of Value-Free Science”; Kevin C. Elliott, “Arguments Against the Value-Free Ideal.”