April Talk: Lee McIntyre on 'The Scientific Attitude'

We are pleased to welcome Lee McIntyre back on the eve of his latest book on the challenges of the post-modern age. "The Scientific Attitude: Defending Science from Denial, Fraud, and Pseudoscience” is the title of this upcoming MIT Press book.

"As part of -- or perhaps the culmination of -- an on-going campaign of fact and truth denial that has been going on in Western democracies for the last several decades, science is currently under attack. On topics such as evolution, vaccines, and climate change, the forces of ideology, cognitive bias, media confusion, and outright ignorance have conspired to spread disinformation and legitimize doubt about even the most well-settled empirical questions. This contrasts sharply with the attitude that scientists take toward empirical beliefs, which is based on respect for evidence and the flexibility of mind to change one's beliefs based on new evidence.

"Why then -- when they set out to defend science -- are scientists and philosophers of science so often at a loss to explain what is so special about science?

"The elusive search for some logical criteria that may demarcate science from non-science, or ill-advised scientific pronouncements about proof and certainty, only give aid and comfort to some of the myths that are exploited by science deniers. Instead, I believe that what is most distinctive about science is not its method or logic, but instead its values. In this talk I will explore how the scientific attitude can be used to fight back against the sorts of criticisms made by science deniers (and pseudoscientists), who do not understand that the heart of scientific thought is based on its critical values, and community spirit of criticism, such that skepticism and doubt are a strength rather than a weakness of scientific theory."

Lee McIntyre is a Research Fellow at the Center for Philosophy and History of Science at Boston University and an Instructor in Ethics at Harvard Extension School. His previous publications include, Post-Truth (2018) and Respecting Truth: Willful Ignorance in the Internet Age (2015).

Snacks will follow the talk.

Free Parking will be available in the nearby Littauer Library lot, as well as free meter parking in Cambridge on Sundays. For Littauer, enter the Maxwell Dworkin Science Quadrangle from Oxford St (opposite the Natural History Museum). Wind your way through to the Littauer Lot at the end of the road. This lies between the Law School Library and the Science Center. Phillips Brooks House is just across from the Science Center in Harvard Yard.

Harvard Square MBTA (train and bus) station is just steps away from Phillips Brooks House, which is in the corner of Harvard Yard just across from the Science Center. Parking is also available on the street (free in Cambridge on Sundays).