Loss of biodiversity increasingly threatens human well-being [Research] Continues:
Yale study concludes public apathy over climate change unrelated to science literacy: Read More:
Our instinctive need for social cohesion easily overwhelms morality and reason.
This fact is often cited as evidence that tribal peoples saw only the members of
their own tribe as "people," and denigrated all others as something less. In fact,
this is a tenuous conclusion to draw from the evidence. Many languages refined
their identification as "the true people," or "the real people," dehumanizing the other
people or simply considering them inferior. The more driven we are to circle the wagons in
pursuit of the safety of social cohesion, the more we abandon reason, intellect
and evidence-based analysis, the more closed our minds become.
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The Polarizing Impact of Science Literacy and Numeracy on Perceived Climate Change Risks|
Kahan’s paper reinforces several current bodies of research that try to understand human cognition more holistically. First, it supports Kahan’s own work on Cultural Cognition theory, which finds that though we employ facts as weapons in our battles over issues and ideas, the real war is about tribal identity and cohesion |
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Jeff Schweitzer ~Scientist and former White House Senior Policy Analyst; Ph.D. in marine biology/neurophysiology
Why Facts Matter: Science Is Not an Opinion | Faith and Reason: We have come to this tragic conclusion about our future because fact and opinion today are considered of equal validity. But how did we arrive here? Why did this happen? How did two plus two equals four become liberal conjecture? Why do we dispute the obvious? Because our society has been infected with the deadly disease of faith-based reasoning.
