Online Talk: Why Strategic Science Skeptics Are Not “Modern-Day Galileos”

Moderator: Iulian Toader

Date: 14/01/2021

Time: 15h00 - 17h00

Plattform: Moodle Collaborate | Talks in Philosophy of Science and Epistemology PSE

Access:https://eu.bbcollab.com/guest/c8cdeaacf66140a5994605d5fff5cf25

Abstract:
Strategic science skepticism contests scientific knowledge to achieve economic and political goals. Science skeptics employ various strategies to contest science. I will focus on one particular strategy that consists in the fact that science skeptics liken themselves to revolutionary scientists to enhance the credibility of their own claims.
Since Galileo Galilei serves as their main reference point, this strategy is also known as the “Galileo gambit” (Mann 2012). In this talk, I will provide an analysis and a rebuttal of the Galileo gambit based on considerations of expertise and a philosophical account of scientific revolutions.