According to Lee McIntyre, attacks on science have become commonplace. Claims that climate change isn’t settled science, that evolution is “only a theory,” and that scientists are conspiring to keep the truth about vaccines from the public are staples of some politicians’ rhetorical repertoire. McIntyre joins us to present The Scientific Attitude, a treatise in defense of science’s processes, claims, and discoveries. McIntyre argues that what makes science distinctive is its emphasis on evidence and scientists’ willingness to change theories on the basis of new evidence.

He explores the implications of scientific fraud; tracks the transformation of medicine from its basis in hunches to its modern form as an evidence-based practice; and studies the positions of ideology-driven denialists, pseudoscientists, and “skeptics” who reject scientific findings. Join McIntyre for a look at how the scientific attitude—the grounding of science in evidence—offers a uniquely powerful tool in the defense of science.

Lee McIntyre is a Research Fellow at the Center for Philosophy and History of Science at Boston University. He is the author of Dark Ages: The Case for a Science of Human Behavior and Post-Truth, both published by the MIT Press.

Presented by Town Hall Seattle.