Nichols & Petzold on Pseudoscience and Antiscience, 2021

here, some excerpts from a recent Cultural Studies of Science Education paper:

[Nichols, M.D., & Petzold, A.M. (2021). A crisis of authority in scientific discourse. Cultural Studies of Science Education, 1–8. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11422-020-09989-1]

001. the authors write:

"[from the abstract] there is an unsettling rise of anti-scientific counter-discourses such as the anti-vaccine movement, the growing Flat Earth movement, climate change denialism, and a host of other 'movements' grounded in either pseudo-science or an outright dismissal of scientific authority. In response to this crisis, scientists and educators have called for more attention to improving scientific literacy among the general public. By examining the generic conventions of scientific discourse using the theories of Mikhail Bakhtin, we hope to point out some of the barriers causing the current crisis in scientific authority [...]";

a noble, necessary endeavor.  Kudos! Been a while since I've read Bakhtin. I would lump, into their grouping of pseudosciences, naturopathy.  Of course!  For instance, ISYN, here's another recent paper specifically on naturopathy -- Rastogi, R., Rastogi, S. (2021). Concept of health and disease in naturopathy: An overview in the context of COVID-19 pandemic. History & Philosophy of Medicine, 2021, 3(1):4. doi: 10.12032/HPM20210112023 -- which states nonsensically/pseudoscientifically: "the science of naturopathy, a distinct traditional system of healing is based on the philosophy that the body has an inbuilt and inherent vital power to correct itself when it falls ill." Vital powers, of course, as a phenomena category, are science-ejected.

"while misunderstanding this paper might create ill-will or add to the anti-intellectualism marring too much of US society, misunderstanding or dismissing science [categorically!] has much more dire consequences. The current anti-science response to the global pandemic is just the latest anti-science discourse that is posing an existential threat [...] it is easy to blame these crises solely on the lack of scientific literacy among the general public. Perhaps [...] scientific discourse needs to be more willing to recognize the messiness of the conditions outside the laboratory and more willing to listen to and incorporate the heteroglossic voices and knowledge of the lay population as it seeks to disseminate its vital findings to a world in crisis [...]";

hear, hear.  There are not enough science-populists, and we need a diversity of such to meet people where they are -- to bring them along.