Respecting Truth by Lee McIntyre

Respecting Truth Reviews

• 
  Karen Jackson

  The remedy to truthiness!”
  
  I love books like this, on an important concept but written in accessible language. This book explains what’s behind science denial. From climate change to evolution to vaccines, the author lays the blame on willful ignorance, a timid media, and those academics who’ve decided that they don’t want to stand up for the idea of truth. It’s a fast read. And funny! There’s enough here that’s familiar from the denial discussion to make you appreciate a fresh take on how the whole thing comes down to disrespect for the concept of truth, but there’s a lot of new material too – on conspiracy theories, new research in behavioral economics, and political absurdities – to strike things forward. It also covers the Flying Spaghetti Monster, the Darwin awards, and other fun topics. This is the book to quote to your brother-in-law when he starts spouting off about how global warming is a hoax.
• 
  Maurits

  Although it's interesting, he sometimes makes strawmen out of his opponents, which is disappointing and frustrating.
• 
  Phi Beta Kappa Authors

  Lee McIntyre
  ΦBK, Wesleyan University, 1984
  Author
  
  From the publisher: Throughout history, humans have always indulged in certain irrationalities and held some fairly wrong-headed beliefs. But in his newest book, philosopher Lee McIntyre shows how we've now reached a watershed moment for ignorance in the modern era, due to the volume of misinformation, the speed with which it can be digitally disseminated, and the savvy exploitation of our cognitive weaknesses by those who wish to advance their ideological agendas. In Respecting Truth: Willful Ignorance in the Internet Age, McIntyre issues a call to fight back against this slide into the witless abyss. In the tradition of Galileo, the author champions the importance of using tested scientific methods for arriving at true beliefs, and shows how our future survival is dependent on a more widespread, reasonable world.
• 
  David Pratt

  Great read
  
  I found it very insightful and informative. I think everyone should take the time to read and absorb the ideas argued in this book.
• 
  Liquidlasagna

  
  Honestly, you can't respect truth if most of your weak arguments are basically creating Strawman Fallacies with the positions you disagree with.
  
  Which is one of the oldest cheapshots in the book, in the James Randi school of Skepticism 101
  
  
  For a guy at the Center for Philosophy and History of Science. he's got some pretty questionable views on science.... his strangest is that he basically looks forward to the day when economics and sociology (the soft sciences) eventually will mature and 'magically' be hard science.
  
  That's basically an extreme minority viewpoint out there, almost to the point of ridiculous.
  
  and well, it's always interesting when these guys push 'truth'
  yet they'll take on controversial positions with a 55 gallon drum of moralizing
  like all the recent stuff on race and climate
  
  basically his clever innocent is that you basically need to respect truth
  which is just commonly accepted opinions which are agreed upon by many
  
  but the skeptics are loopy in that start shouting like Goebbels that you need to respect the truth of the mainstream media, and that you need to respct the truth of your government...
  
  and in the best orwellian sense
  
  Strange is basically it's the skeptic writing the book who determines what truth is, when the truth isn't so 'cut and dried'
  
  He's pretty much the the closest the skeptic movement has to a philosopher these days, and when he's not going after low hanging fruit, he's making a fool of himself with half of his writings.
  
  but you know how it is, if you agree with him, and don't have a problem with any of his postiions, he's as awesome as Apple Pie.
  
  Just hide like a cockroach if he disagrees with you, he'll stomp on you...
  
  
  Honestly, anyone who thinks the soft sciences just need a little more maturity and they will be a rock-solid hard science is basically one step away from the lunatic asylum.
  
  ........
  
  Sadly the whole movement is incapable of knowing the different between a fact
  and an opinion
  
  Basically they have all the facts, so don't question a damn thing.
  And if we pick the most irritating goofballs, naturally you'll go along with our position!
  
  .........
  
  "In the tradition of Galileo, the author champions the importance of using tested scientific methods for arriving at true beliefs, and shows how our future survival is dependent on a more widespread, reasonable world."
  
  gag me with a spoon!
  
  These guys are a part of the problem
  
  All these so-called Skeptical Sallys are really nothing more than Authoritarians who have some cookie cutter set of strong opinions, basically extremely strong likes and dislikes, and well, their 'opinions' are FACT, and your 'opinions' are JUNK.
  
  The strangest thing is all these skeptics are oddly non-skeptical in two things
  
  a. They believe everything the mainstream media says
  b. They believe everything the government says
  
  That's not very skeptical now, is it?
  
  ........
  
  "Lee McIntyre identifies the central problem of truth claims today--from global warming and GMOs to evolution and vaccinations--'willful ignorance.' Respecting Truth should be read by every member of Congress before voting on legislation, and they should do so based on the facts instead of party line. The problem is group think. The solution is having a 'designated skeptic'. I nominate Lee McIntyre."
  
  Michael Shermer, Skeptic Magazine
• 
  Jim Fitzgerald

  We have a political candidate willfully ignorant as well as willfully dishonest leading a like-minded group of followers who are willfully ignorant though predominately honest. There search for truth as defined in this book through a metrics of reasoning simply does not exist. Should they grow in numbers sufficient to re-elect the candidate, the nation will revert to a time of a demon haunted world as expressed by Sagan years ago. This is an excellent book that is a harbinger of fate for this country. It should be read by every voter before November. But alas to think this can even remotely be possible saddens me. And so it goes.