A less modest witness

In this article, I examine the evolving tradition of témoignage (witnessing) maintained by the international humanitarian organization Médecins Sans Frontières—Doctors Without Borders. Comparing this practice to traditions of virtuous testimony by the public intellectual and the gentleman scientist, I suggest that collective actors like nongovernmental organizations now play a central role in defining secular moral truth for an international audience. By integrating medical expertise and public expression, the work of this group illustrates an overtly motivated form of scientific research, finding facts in the name of values, in the pursuit of both technical and ethical ends.