Financial conflict-of-interest definitions assume contested goals for research enterprises

Evidence

Much of it has been centered upon the sphere of biomedical research, for the reason that biomedicine was one of the earliest research fields to become thoroughly commercialized in the modern university, and consequently a plethora of debacles in the arenas of lethal drugs, abused human subjects, botched pharmaceuticals, and outlandish expenses have drawn the attention of many to search for the explanation of such corruption of the research enterprise in the midst of largesse. Within the perimeter of university research, “financial conflict of interest” has come to be defined as the actual conduct of research in an environment where relevant financial interests of the researcher and/or his institution might conceivably influence the outcome, embedded in a larger societal context where impartiality is expected or presumed. Interestingly, sophisticated observers realize that even this definition is conditional upon a presumed list of goals of the research enterprise: in biomedicine, should the objective be simply to increase the stock of human knowledge, or is it the promotion of human health and welfare, or is it much more narrowly just to make money? — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 592

Categorization

• DEFINE: Clarifies the standard definition of financial conflict of interest in university research.
• XREF: connects to: Research funding subordinates truth to the goal of performativity — Jean-François Lyotard, The Postmodern Condition: A Report on…, 342

Broader Connections

• Research funding subordinates truth to the goal of performativity #corroborates (0.75) — Jean-François Lyotard, The Postmodern Condition, 342