I answered this question on Quora. People deny science when they....
- Politicize the science
- Insist that the science in one area or another is settled (science is never settled)
- Argue that there is only one form of the scientific method
- Draw conclusions that extend beyond the specific area of investigation
- Prejudice Rationalism over Empiricism
- Insist that public opinion determines the result
- Deny whole bodies of research as the outcomes may be inconvenient to the status quo
- Fail to challenge the bias of authority (people in power)
- Fail to report on the limitations of a specific scientific model
- Use terms that have no meaning in a scientific sense
- Promote pseudo-scientific junk that has an emotional utility
- Selectively use statistics to distort the result
- Fail to insist that experiments ought to be replicated
- Fail to understand the limitations of science and employ its methodology in areas which extend beyond the material
- Insist that science ‘proves’ something when in reality it provides more evidence in support (or against) a certain model - science is inductive not deductive.
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