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Reading Circle II - Fall 2026 | Values in Systems Thinking
Numbers carry authority that arguments do not. What do our results legitimate, what do they quietly rule out, and what do we owe those who live with the consequences?
Quantification is a form of authority, historically adopted where trust in personal judgement was weakest. The closing session asks what our own results legitimate, what they foreclose, and what obligations follow. The session, and the circle, ends with a short collective statement of practice.
Suggested readings:
- Porter, T. M. (1995). Trust in numbers: The pursuit of objectivity in science and public life (Chapters 1 and 8). Princeton University Press.
- Pfenninger, S., DeCarolis, J., Hirth, L., Quoilin, S., & Staffell, I. (2017). The importance of open data and software: Is energy research lagging behind? Energy Policy, 101, 211–215.
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