Psychologist Blinded By Science
Science!
USA Today had an interesting article suggesting that much of the “resistance to science” in the United States is due to psychology developed during childhood.
Among the more absurd claims made in the article is the assertion by Yale psychologist Paul Bloom that “to be scientifically educated means you have to pick up a lot of counter-intuitive beliefs.”
Explanations such as this certainly don’t help science’s case. The whole point of science is not “belief” but rather proof. The concept of picking up “counter-intuitive beliefs” further adds to the fun-house mirror effect. Not only are you supposed to “believe” something, but what you believe should be the opposite of what you thought you were going to believe before you picked up what you were believing. Or something like that.
The author of the article doesn’t understand the importance of scientific method and how it relates to certainty of knowledge, but one of the commenters does. Commenter cr pretty much nails it when he states:
“The difference between a scientific belief system and a theological belief system is pretty simple … If the DATA contradicts your theory, then a scientist challenges the theory, but a theologian will challenge the data.”
Game, set, match … to science.
global warming, climate change, psychology, epistemology, Paul Bloom, Yale, scientific method,
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