(ORDO NEWS) — US educator Lee McIntyre is convinced that it is impossible to give in to anti-science theories, and therefore, in his author’s book on “science deniers”, he explains how to conduct dialogues with supporters of the “flat earth” theory, opponents of vaccination and other conspiracy theorists.
The specialist also explained the reasons why many of them believe in this whole anti-scientific set of fantasies and conjectures.
Thus, the author cites as an example a study by German colleagues who proposed two main strategies for building a dialogue with people who deny science.
The first of them implies a consistent and reasoned presentation of scientific evidence of certain facts.
The second is based on the hypothesis that all deniers traditionally make five characteristic logical errors that can be called of the same type.
They are accustomed to believing in conspiracy theories, to select only those facts that are convenient for them, rely on the opinions of false experts, are contradictory and do not follow the usual logic, and, finally, always have fantastic, largely inflated expectations from science.
True, McIntyre emphasizes, all these techniques are good only in confrontation with neophytes.
But the inveterate deniers of science do not care for such arguments. In their case, it is necessary to arm yourself with a benevolent attitude and not consider your interlocutors stupid.
“We need to remove any emotions from the dialogue.
Discuss the topic, do not attack, listen carefully to the interlocutor and do not try to distort his position, show him respect, admit that you understand why he holds certain views, but at the same time try to demonstrate that new facts do not at all cancel the existing worldview paradigm “, writes the author.
In addition, the teacher spoke about the reason for the emergence of such judgments. He noted that the flat earth theory is not even a worldview that is accepted or refuted based on experiments and evidence.
On the contrary, it is a kind of self-identification of a person. It is she who gives meaning to his life, creates for him a kind of community, the members of which are united by the persecution for their ideas.
“This, after all, can partly even explain certain troubles in life, mental trauma, and so on,” he concluded.
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