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Propaganda vs science
14/9/20 20:53![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kiaaThe False Logic behind Science Denial
...Those who argue that COVID-19 isn’t a real threat are mirroring bogus attacks on global warming and evolution.
"All this is to say that logical fallacies are everywhere and not always easily refuted. Truth, at least in science, is not self-evident. And this helps to explain why science denial is easy to generate and hard to slay. Today we live in a world where science denial, about everything from climate change to COVID-19, is rampant, informed by fallacies of all kinds.
But there is a meta-fallacy—an über-fallacy if you will—that motivates these other, specific fallacies. It also explains why so many of the same people who reject the scientific evidence of anthropogenic climate change also question the evidence related to COVID-19.
Given how common it is, it is remarkable that philosophers have failed to give it a formal name. But I think we can view it as a variety of what sociologists call implicatory denial. I interpret implicatory denial as taking this form: If P, then Q. But I don't like Q! Therefore, P must be wrong. This is the logic (or illogic) that underlies most science rejection.
Sooner or later, denial crashes on the rocks of reality. The only question is whether it crashes before or after we get out of the way."
All good points, yet what the article doesn't mention is the role of propaganda.
Propaganda definition:
information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote or publicize a particular political cause or point of view.
Many individuals cannot differentiate between truth and propaganda. If propaganda supports one's preconceived notions, then it is often believed.
( Read more... )
...Those who argue that COVID-19 isn’t a real threat are mirroring bogus attacks on global warming and evolution.
"All this is to say that logical fallacies are everywhere and not always easily refuted. Truth, at least in science, is not self-evident. And this helps to explain why science denial is easy to generate and hard to slay. Today we live in a world where science denial, about everything from climate change to COVID-19, is rampant, informed by fallacies of all kinds.
But there is a meta-fallacy—an über-fallacy if you will—that motivates these other, specific fallacies. It also explains why so many of the same people who reject the scientific evidence of anthropogenic climate change also question the evidence related to COVID-19.
Given how common it is, it is remarkable that philosophers have failed to give it a formal name. But I think we can view it as a variety of what sociologists call implicatory denial. I interpret implicatory denial as taking this form: If P, then Q. But I don't like Q! Therefore, P must be wrong. This is the logic (or illogic) that underlies most science rejection.
Sooner or later, denial crashes on the rocks of reality. The only question is whether it crashes before or after we get out of the way."
All good points, yet what the article doesn't mention is the role of propaganda.
Propaganda definition:
information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote or publicize a particular political cause or point of view.
Many individuals cannot differentiate between truth and propaganda. If propaganda supports one's preconceived notions, then it is often believed.
( Read more... )
