Science denied and ignorance

Two antithetical groups: at one pole we have the literati, who as if by chance, without anyone noticing, began to call themselves “intellectuals,” as if there were no others…. Literati at one pole and scientists at the other, the most representative of whom are physicists.

Charles P. Snow (The Two Cultures, 1960)

So-called “scientism” has become the unifying philosophical myth of modern times. In a country where scientific research is economically humiliated, where it has very low social recognition, where it is marginal in the media and ignored by philosophy, where it is not at all recognized as a form of culture, the problem is “scientism.”

In a country where magicians, sorceresses, and esoteric experts constitute an economic and media empire, where instead labs are kept up by doctoral students on 800-euro-a-month grants, and researcher salaries 1100 euros a month, the problem is “scientism.”

Telmo Pievani, Carla Castellacci - “Sante ragioni” (2007)

Science, culture and society

  1. Charles P. Snow - The Two Cultures (1959) trad.it. The two cultures, ed. revised by G.Giorello.G.Longo, P.Odifreddi(2005)

  2. Jerome Kagan - The Three Cultures. natural sciences, social sciences and humanities in the 21st century (2013)

  3. Carlo Bernardini, Tullio De Mauro - Counting and telling: Dialogue on the two cultures

  4. Robin Dunbar - Don’t shoot the science

  5. Enrico Bellone - Science denied. the Italian case

  6. Silvano Fuso - The Enemies of Science. Philosophical, Religious and Environmental Integralisms.

  7. Mauro Dorato - Scientific Disinformation and Democracy. The Expert’s Expertise and the Citizen’s Autonomy

  8. Tullio Regge, Primo Levi - Dialogue

  9. Alan Sokal, Jean Bricmont - Intellectual Impostures. what should be the relationship between philosophy and science? (1999)

Articles and online resources:

  1. https://physics.nyu.edu/faculty/sokal/lingua_franca_v4/lingua_franca_v4.html
  2. https://physics.nyu.edu/faculty/sokal/transgress_v2/transgress_v2_singlefile.html
  3. https://physics.nyu.edu/faculty/sokal/dawkins.html
  4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grievance_studies_affair
  5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sokal_affair
  6. http://insti.physics.sunysb.edu/~siegel/parodies/