aboutViagra...Justthis focus on men, whereas women, you know,
birth control is a big problem in our country. So I think that’s what
made me cranky.”^23 Apparently, equating “what looks most like you”
with “excellence” is so reflexive as to go unnoticed by some.
The tendency to frame preferences in terms of self-interest may
occur in part because it is difficult if not impossible to think of a
system of evaluation that would entirely bracket personal tastes. Pan-
elists cannot spell out what defines an “interesting” proposal in the
abstract, irrespective of the kinds of problems that captivate them
personally. They behave as if they have no alternative but to use their
own personal understanding of what constitutes a fascinating prob-
lem in order to do the work that is expected of them. After all, their
connoisseurship and expertise, which cannot be separated from their
ability to judge, is why they were invited to serve.^24 And indeed, there
is a great deal of uncertainty and unpredictability involved in delib-
eration. This is why experts who are recognized for their good judg-
ment are needed. Their expertise positions them to demonstrate cre-
ativity in situations of improvisation.^25
Some disciplines and some scholars may be more open to ac-
commodating personal idiosyncrasies, as we saw in Chapter 3.^26
Feminist standpoint theory, for instance, takes an anti-objectivist
epistemological stance on the grounds that personal identity influ-
ences all aspects of scholarly work.^27 But regardless of intellectual
position, many panelists are aware of the dangers of rewarding pro-
posals because they aim to do “something very close to what I aspire
to do.” An anthropologist sums up this customary caution against
succumbing to the pull of one’s personal interests:
One of the lessons that we learn immediately as anthropologists
is, there’s a lot of different ways of being in the world. So if you
can apply cultural relativism to proposal writing, then you’re OK.
But you never fully escape from your own interests, your own po-Pragmatic Fairness / 131