Proctor is very well known in Science & Technology Studies. He got into a dust up in the psych journals several years ago with an eminent historian of psychology named John Burnham (Ohio St., I think), who had apparently once testified in court on behalf of tobacco companies, bringing his historical expertise to bear on the topic. I do not recall all the details at present, but that is probably why his name turns up in PsycInfo. Agnotology has been around for a long while now. Proctor's book on it is from 2008. Although it is often described as the "study of ignorance," it is really about the intentional *production* of ignorance (or justification for the denial of knowledge that is well-established), usually for political or commercial purposes. Tobacco companies "selling doubt" about the health effects of their product is the classic example. More recently, manufacturing doubt about the cause and effects climate change has become the central item. (Naomi Oreskes has shown that not only is the style of argument in the cases of tobacco and climate change similar; it turns out that the two campaigns have often been developed by the selfsame "scientists" who sell their academic cred to corporations who need the appearance of "independence" to enhance the believability of their denials.) Evolution is a frequent "victim" of similar campaigns. Every time you hear a politician start their remarks with "I'm not a scientist but it seems to me...," that is a classic agnotological trope in action.
Chris ....... Christopher D Green Department of Psychology York University Toronto, ON M3J 1P3 43.773759, -79.503722 chri...@yorku.ca http://www.yorku.ca/christo > On Apr 17, 2016, at 4:24 PM, Jim Clark <j.cl...@uwinnipeg.ca> wrote: > > > > Hi > > Came across following article describing work by a science historian under > the rubric of “agnotology” (study of ignorance) that clearly overlaps with > interest in critical thinking, debunking, and the like in psychology. > > http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20160105-the-man-who-studies-the-spread-of-ignorance > > Here’s an intro to Proctor’s book on the subject. > > http://www.colorado.edu/philosophy/hale/ENVS5200/Agnotology-Introduction.pdf > > Proctor has a few references in PsycInfo, three on tobacco and one on > eugenics, which probably overlaps with psychology in other ways as well > (e.g., evolutionary psychology). > > New to me, but perhaps not others. > > Take care > Jim > > > Jim Clark > Professor & Chair of Psychology > University of Winnipeg > 204-786-9757 > Room 4L41A (4th Floor Lockhart) > www.uwinnipeg.ca/~clark > > > --- > > You are currently subscribed to tips as: chri...@yorku.ca. > > To unsubscribe click here: > http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=430248.781165b5ef80a3cd2b14721caf62bd92&n=T&l=tips&o=48547 > > (It may be necessary to cut and paste the above URL if the line is broken) > > or send a blank email to > leave-48547-430248.781165b5ef80a3cd2b14721caf62b...@fsulist.frostburg.edu > --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: arch...@mail-archive.com. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=48549 or send a blank email to leave-48549-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
