Philosophy of Science Colloquium, G ü n t h e r F l e c k

Department of HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE Eotvos University, Budapest Pazmany P. setany 1/A Budapest Phone/Fax: (36-1) 372 2924 Department's Home Page:http://hps.elte.hu P h i l o s o p h y o f S c i e n c e C o l l o q u i u m Room 6.54 (6th floor) Monday 4:00 PM ____________________________________ 12 May 4:00 PM 6th floor 6.54 G ü n t h e r F l e c k Department of Human and Social Sciences National Defence Academy, Vienna, Austria THE ANTI-SCIENCE PHENOMENON: PSYCHOLOGICAL ROOTS OF RISKY DEVELOPMENTS CONCERNING SCIENCE In recent years we have been witnessing various movements attacking the position of science. These attacks originated in different domains,such as political and religious fundamentalism, esotericism, or relativism. They all share a more or less radical rejection of science emphasizing their own brand of world view as absolute truth. Some of these attacks on science (e.g., the New Age Movement) may be considered as a reaction against the extreme version of science - scientism. Viewing science as the only way of gaining genuine (true) knowledge, scientism has provoked and promoted anti-scientific movements. Unsatisfied with the position of scientism, even many students and young graduates in the Western culture have become susceptible to modern versions of superstition and pseudo-science. The obvious side-effects are the loss of the ability of critical thinking and the increase of superstitious thinking. This paper offers an attempt to analyse and to understand these movements from a psychological perspective. ___________________________________ The 60-minute lecture is followed by a 10-minute break. Then we held a 30-60-minute discussion.The participants may comment the talks and initiate discussion on the Internet. The comments should be written in the language of the presentation. The organizer of the colloquium: Laszlo E. Szabo (email: leszabo(a)hps.elte.hu) -- L a s z l o E. S z a b o Theoretical Physics Research Group of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences Department of History and Philosophy of Science Eotvos University, Budapest H-1518 Budapest, Pf. 32, Hungary Phone/Fax: (36-1)372-2924 Mobil/SMS: (36) 20-366-1172 http://hps.elte.hu/~leszabo