Philosophy of science for globalized privatization: Uncovering some limitations of critical contextual empiricism

•The organization of scientific research has been increasingly commercialized in recent decades.•Longino's contextualism falls short when trying to implement it as a guide for current science.•The rules of effective criticism have limited scope when evaluating commercialized research.•We need a broader understanding of the “social” dimensions of scientific knowledge.

The purpose of this paper is to uncover some of the limitations that critical contextual empiricism, and in particular Longino's contextualism, faces when trying to provide a normative account of scientific knowledge that is relevant to current scientific research. After presenting the four norms of effective criticism, I show how the norms have limited scope when dealing with cases of current scientific practices. I then present some historical evidence for the claim that the organization of science has changed in recent decades, and I argue that the uncovered limitations emerge from this larger phenomenon. Finally, I conclude by suggesting two ways to overcome the previously uncovered limitations.