“Despite some apparent challenges, it is feasible to apply adversarial collaboration to ecology and evolutionary biology disputes. For this, among other things, we need to devise a new kind of adversarial collaboration specifically tailored to conceptual disputes, which we name ‘theoretical adversarial collaboration’”, says Juan Gefaell, researcher at Lund University.
In many scientific fields, opposing theories often lead to years of back-and-forth arguments in journals, with little resolution. Adversarial collaboration – an idea first developed in psychology – encourages scientists who disagree to work together under the guidance of a neutral moderator.
The article introduces to the ecology and evolutionary biology communities the adversarial collaboration approach, where scientists who disagree on a topic collaborate, aided by a moderator, to move a controversy forward.
When disagreement becomes dialogue
Gefaell’s work suggests that this cooperative framework could help move scientific debates forward more efficiently – and with more civility.
While adversarial collaboration has proven useful in dealing with empirical disagreements, the study highlights the unique challenges of applying it to conceptual disputes – the kind that shape whole research traditions.
From confrontation to cooperation
By integrating perspectives from the philosophy of science, the approach could help transform conflicts into opportunities for clarification, synthesis, and genuine understanding.
Scientific disputes aren’t just an internal matter – they can affect how the public perceives science itself.
A boost for trust in science
“There is evidence that expert consensus strengthens public acceptance in science,” says Gefaell. “Adversarial collaboration can help broaden scientific consensus, thus likely increasing citizens’ confidence in science. In those cases in which the approach cannot terminate disagreements, at least it can guarantee that these are handled with more civility and scientific rigour, which also likely results in increased trust.”
By making disagreement more transparent and less adversarial, Gefaell hopes this approach can strengthen both the credibility and the humanity of scientific practice.
The study concludes that philosophical insight can improve how science handles its own internal tensions. Or, as Gefaell succinctly puts it:
“Let’s turn our scientific rivals into partners for the greater scientific good.”
The study is published in Trends in Ecology and Evolution: “From rivals to partners: adversarial collaboration in ecology and evolution”.
