Oreskes’ “Coda: Values in Science” paper focuses on how one’s personal values and beliefs influence one’s view of science. Her text contributes to a larger conversation at hand about climate change, religion, and politics. In an increasingly politicized society, it is becoming more uncommon for individuals to listen and compromise with other parties due to Oreskes’ idea that people only choose to selectively listen to views that match their own. Claiming full neutrality comes off as ingenuine and suspicious, so when scientists do so, people are innately somewhat untrustworthy of them.

Furthermore, I thought her proposition that scientists should openly share their values in order to better appeal to the public’s shared beliefs was quite compelling. Her argument that people do have common beliefs and wants does ring true. However, one necessary aspect Oreskes could have expanded upon was the extent to which scientists should open up about their personal beliefs. Her open ended conclusion leaves the audience with a sense that only good effects will come from scientists sharing their overarching values. Excessive sharing to the public, though, could lead to great danger and harm to the scientific community. The greater they share, the greater chance they have of disagreeing with other groups. Recent events, such as the 2021 Capitol attack and Black Lives Matter movement, have proved how political opposition often takes on a frightening violent component. Inconsistencies in how much individual scientists share to the public may open up the entire community to receiving even more distrust and torment. In order for Oreskes’ solution to have benefits without great endangerment, scientists may need to set a new standard threshold of how much they are willing to declare as a whole. I do applaud her for suggesting a novel solution to topics of such great importance. I can only hope that more people will use shared goals of peace, health, happiness, and safety to come to more agreements surrounding issues of climate change and disease control.