Post-Truth Science Education: The Philosophical Contribution of Post-Truth to Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District

• In Event: 66.074 - Polarization and Epistemic Divides

Abstract

What can philosophers of education learn about “post-truth” from philosophy of science? To answer this question, I analyze one instance where a post-truth framework was applied as the “symmetry principle”—agnosticism to the truth or falsity of scientific claims—to the question of including Intelligent Design in a high school biology curriculum. A close reading of Kitzmiller. v. Dover Area School District court transcripts reveals that the testimony of philosopher of science, Steve Fuller, encourages historically broad views of science that are absent from many classrooms but implicates classroom science in reactionary politics. To operationalize strategies for combating post-truth, we must grapple with such normative applications by considering epistemological pluralism, while also answering to the political implications of science generally.

Author

• Michael L Lachney, Michigan State University