MTL PhilSci Net | Conférence « Philosophy of Science and Public Acceptance of Science » – Michael Weisberg, University of Pennsylvania | 13.3.2020 (Annulée/cancelled Covid-19)

**ANNULÉE / CANCELLED (Covid-19)** Vendredi 13 mars / Friday 13 March, 15:00-17:00 Local W-5215, 5eme étage, Pavillon Thérèse-Casgrain (W), 455, Boulevard René-Lévesque Est, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) (PLAN/MAP). Conférence co-organisée avec / Co-organized talk with the Département de philosophie de l’UQAM et en partenariat avec le CIRST. Résumé/abstract: Why do people sometimes reject scientific claims? People’s views about scientific topics might be fully explained by their political or religious identities, and their knowledge about science might play no role. To challenge this conclusion, we administered two new assessments of people’s thinking about science to a demographically representative sample of the US public (N=1500), along with questions about the acceptance of evolution, climate change, and vaccines. Participants’ political and religious views predicted their acceptance of scientific claims, as did a greater understanding of the nature of science and a more mature view of how to mitigate scientific disagreements. Importantly, the positive effect of scientific thinking on acceptance held regardless of participants’ level of political ideology or level of religiosity. Increased attention to developing people’s understanding of how science works could thus mitigate resistance to scientific claims across the political and religious spectrum.

MTL PhilSci Net | Conférence « Philosophy of Science and Public Acceptance of Science » – Michael Weisberg, University of Pennsylvania | 13.3.2020 (Annulée/cancelled Covid-19)

**ANNULÉE / CANCELLED (Covid-19)** Vendredi 13 mars / Friday 13 March, 15:00-17:00 Local W-5215, 5eme étage, Pavillon Thérèse-Casgrain (W), 455, Boulevard René-Lévesque Est, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) (PLAN/MAP). Conférence co-organisée avec / Co-organized talk with the Département de philosophie de l’UQAM et en partenariat avec le CIRST. Résumé/abstract: Why do people sometimes reject scientific claims? People’s views about scientific topics might be fully explained by their political or religious identities, and their knowledge about science might play no role. To challenge this conclusion, we administered two new assessments of people’s thinking about science to a demographically representative sample of the US public (N=1500), along with questions about the acceptance of evolution, climate change, and vaccines. Participants’ political and religious views predicted their acceptance of scientific claims, as did a greater understanding of the nature of science and a more mature view of how to mitigate scientific disagreements. Importantly, the positive effect of scientific thinking on acceptance held regardless of participants’ level of political ideology or level of religiosity. Increased attention to developing people’s understanding of how science works could thus mitigate resistance to scientific claims across the political and religious spectrum.