Episode 31 - How to Talk to a Science Denier with Lee McIntyre
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Lee McIntyre) is a philosopher and a scholar of science denial. He is a Research Fellow at the Center for Philosophy and History of Science at Boston University and a recent Lecturer in Ethics at Harvard Extension School. Lee is the author of many books for MIT Press, I will just mention three now.   In The Scientific Attitude) (2019), Lee argues that we can best understand what is distinctive about science not by focusing on its method or achievements, but on those instances of failure to live up to one of its most basic values —”the scientific attitude”—which is caring about evidence and being willing to change our theories on the basis of evidence. In his upcoming book On Disinformation )(2023) [I mistakenly refer to this as "Truth Killers" in my intro in the episode], Lee draws on over twenty years of science denial scholarship and takes readers through the history of strategic denialism to show how we arrived at this precarious political moment and identifies the creators, amplifiers, and believers of disinformation. In this episode we will focus a lot on his book *How To Talk To A Science Denier *)(2021). The book offers tools and techniques for communicating the truth and values of science, emphasizing that the most important way to reach science deniers is to talk to them calmly and respectfully - to put ourselves out there, to meet them face to face.

  Sources: Supran et al (2022) "Assessing ExxonMobil’s global warming projections" https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abk0063)  New York Times, "Exxon Scientists Predicted Global Warming, Even as Company Cast Doubts, Study Find" https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/12/climate/exxon-mobil-global-warming-climate-change.html)  Judge's verdict: "Royal Dutch Shell must reduce CO2 emissions" https://www.rechtspraak.nl/Organisatie-en-contact/Organisatie/Rechtbanken/Rechtbank-Den-Haag/Nieuws/Paginas/Royal-Dutch-Shell-must-reduce-CO2-emissions.aspx) 

  I published my first article as an independent researcher. It is about my vision on the climate crisis, and you can read it here: https://futurebased.org/topics/earthucation-using-interdisciplinary-philosophy-education-and-science-communication-to-understand-the-climate-crisis/) 

  This is an independent educational podcast and I appreciate any support you can give me me on Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/lifefromplatoscave)) or in other ways.  

I hope you enjoy the episode! Mario http://lifefromplatoscave.com/)   

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