Anti-intellectual means to deny the actual value and significance of knowledge, culture, and art food when one's own ability is not enough to support rational thinking and complete logic.
News reports on the existence of anti-intellectuality every day, such as parents who refuse to get vaccinated even if their son is hospitalized for tetanus for 47 days, and refuses to wear masks during the COVID-19 pandemic. Philosopher Robert P. Cres said from the perspective of the humanities why science should be an authoritative entity, but has lost its power to a large extent in recent years.
The rise and fall of scientific authority and its recovery
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-00872-w
Galileo Galileo wrote in 1623: "The Book of Nature is written in mathematics." At first glance, the word seems to be fine, but because it implies that "people who understand the mathematical language of have as authoritative as pastors", it is a big ripple. Galileo When he was alive, there were two sources of authority: the church and the country, but Galileo tried to show that the Scientist was another existence of authority. In 1633, Galileo's attempt was unsuccessful, he was convicted and arrested until his death in 1642. However, at the end of the 17th century, European governments began to show that scientific associations, scientific research and scientists were "authorized".
However, modern "science" has once again become the target of attacks. Politicians reject scientists' claims and confidently accept myths and cherry picking (Cherry picking unilateral arguments or suppressing evidence, or the fallacy of incomplete evidence, the term is based on the perceived process of harvesting fruits. Those who pick the fruit pick out good fruits, and those who see them may think that all fruits are good, but in fact they are not. Picking cherries has negative implications because this practice ignores, ignores, or directly suppresses evidence that may lead to the full picture.) The philosopher Robert P. Kres seems to have investigated this reason for five years.
"Science is absolutely correct and comprehensive", and Mr. Cres might interpret science as "more like Facebook". Facebook is a tool that connects people and enables them to share information, but this feature can also be a weakness that can lead to misuse and misuse of information, which is also applicable to science. Science is a typical way to explore things, but it is technical, error-prone, can be implemented in the community or recreate people's values. These characteristics of science have weaknesses, which leads people to reject scientific authority.
For example, you need expertise to understand the technical aspects of science. This led politicians to think that “science is far from it, not a conceptual thing” and stopped the discussion. In 2014, when Senator Mitch McConnell asked if climate change is really the case, he said: "I'm not a scientist. My interest is to protect the economy of Kentucky." In addition, science is just a "temporary fact" that sometimes makes mistakes and corrects them with new facts, which can affect the values that some people value and also drive people away from science.
If you don't understand these weaknesses in science, a negative attack on science will be like a blow. On the contrary, in order to regain strength, science must "understand the mechanism of hitting mole ".
Galileo understood this mechanism at the time. Galileo's enemies appeal to the importance of theology, but Galileo said: "The Bible teaches us how to reach heaven, but it does not teach how heaven moves. It cleverly explains that it is different from the authority of theology. The negative motivations of modern science are not religious, and Galileo's logic itself cannot apply to today due to desire, fear, prejudice, comfort, interests, politics, etc. But just as Galileo understands the values of the enemy, the scientific community needs to understand the negative values of science.
We need long-term strategies and short-term strategies to fight the negative effects of science. Long-term strategies are repeated research that is important to science in Western countries, but at present, the scientific community has proven that it is necessary to convince the other party not to "destroy your culture and values."
Mr. Cres cites the example of Ottoman Empire , calling it a country where science has become an authoritative one. The Ottoman Empire, with its vast land and powerful power, made significant progress in medicine, astronomy and arithmetic. But by the mid-eighteenth century, military weaknesses had already emerged. Especially after the reign of Abdulmaidz I , it is believed that the reason for weakness is the lack of Western science. Most Ottoman citizens were Muslims, so the social controversy at the time was “Is it possible for the Muslims who respected it to introduce Western science while showing patriotism?” It took place at all levels from class to popular culture. After the Ottomans thought and discussed "Who are you?" Science became an authority and "Who do you want to be?" Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, who ended the Ottoman Empire and established the Turkish Republic, said in 1924 that "the signposts of truth are knowledge and science." According to Mr. Cres, the reason for this conclusion was that the Ottoman Empire's introspection was carried out through large-scale humanities education.
Hanna Arendt is a philosopher engaged in asylum assistance. Even if she was in danger of being arrested during the persecution of Jewish , she wrote a lot about authority. Arendt believes that authority is neither born nor spontaneous, nor can it be generated by facts alone. Arendt said that creating authority is an institution that can create what she calls “public space.” Without such authority, without such authority, the result would be those who try to profit in ordinary language, those who try to polarize the situation, and those who want to use the media, gain power and influence.
Kres said the decline of scientific authority is also true, including vaccine denialism, the Ottoman Empire has ended, and the reason why science is authoritative is because people have conducted in-depth discussions. The decline of scientific authority is not only happening, but is believed to be because public spaces have been taken away, and the discussion forums that existed to date have disappeared. Cres believes that the whole story of how science is encouraged, attacked, defended, collaborated with society, and lost power is the first step to restoring the power of science.
