Colloquium: Sven Ove Hansson, Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm
BIOGRAPHY
Sven Ove Hansson is a professor of philosophy at the Department of Philosophy and History, Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm. He is editor-in-chief of Theoria and the book series Outstanding Contributions to Logic (Studia Logica Library) and Philosophy, Technology and Society. He is also member of the editorial boards of Synthese, Techné, Studia Logica, and the Journal of Philosophical Logic, a member of the scientific editorial board of Philosophy & Technology, area editor of the book series Logic, Argumentation & Reasoning, and a member of the editorial board of Oxford Studies in Political Philosophy.
Pseudoscience, Science Denial, Fact Resistance, and Alternative Facts: How are they related?
ABSTRACT
Science is a fact-finding practice, but there are many other fact-finding practices that apply largely the same patterns of reasoning in order to achieve as reliable information as possible in empirical issues. The fact-finding practices form in their turn a subcategory of rational discourse, a wider category that also encompasses argumentation on non-empirical issues. Based on these categories, it is easy to see the relationship between on the one hand pseudoscience, on the other hand fact resistance, disinformation, and fallacies of reasoning. The flaws in argumentation are similar, and the main difference is whether or not the subject matter falls within or without the realm of science.