Cafe Scientifique

Annapolis Café Scientifique: A place, where, for the price of a cup of coffee or a glass of wine, anyone can come and explore the latest ideas in science and technology. Usually the last Thursday of the month, from January -October (take a break in November and December.)

June 30 Café: Are we non-experts irrational when we refuse to accept science-based advice?

Speaker: Dr. Lawrence Lengbeyer, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Department of Leadership, Ethics and Law, United States Naval Academy

When: Thursday, June 30, 2016, 6:30 – 7:30pm
Come at 5:30 or 6 to order food and drinks before the cafe begins!

Where: 49 West Coffeehouse, Wine Bar and Gallery, 49 West St., Annapolis, MD 21401

Questions? Contact Annapolis Café Sci Coordinator Tracy Gill at annapoliscafesci@gmail.com
PLEASE NOTE: SPACE IS LIMITED – call (410) 626-9796 to reserve or cancel your reservation. If you are unable to keep your reservation, please call to release your seats to the wait list.

Summary: Scientists and their supporters often portray laypersons who refuse to go along with science-based recommendations, like those of public health authorities or doctors, as exasperatingly irrational. I argue that a good deal of non-deference to such expert recommendations can be defended as rational. A given recommendation might be subject to intelligent lay critical questioning on any of 4 grounds: (1) for incorporating a weighting of non-scientific values that the layperson finds objectionable; (2) for depending upon weak non-scientific reasoning; (3) for overgeneralizing in its recommendation or its understanding of the underlying scientific research; (4) for deriving from science of dubious quality. Such challenges can justify a lay questioner in modifying or disregarding a science-based recommendation.
About the Speaker: Larry Lengbeyer, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Philosophy in the Department of Leadership, Ethics, and Law at the United States Naval Academy. He feels grateful for such an enjoyable job; for how incredibly difficult it is to do flawless reasoning (which makes his skills valuable); and for the good fortune to have spent 16 years of his life studying at great universities: Harvard (applied math), Cambridge (social psychology & social/political theory), Yale (law, & hermeneutics), and Stanford (philosophy). His intellectual interests are eclectic, though with some focus on ethical issues informed by the philosophy of mind. He and his wife Audrey are passing along their love of music-making to their four young unschooled daughters. July 28th Café: Native Orchids – Ecologically Interesting and in Need of Our Help! August 5th Café: How Clean (or Dirty) Is the Severn River? Sept 29 Café: Alzheimer’s Disease and Cognitive Impairment of Aging

No Cover Charge