PERITIA Public Lectures: A War on Science? The Death of Expertise? Rethinking Vaccine Hesitancy

About the Event:

Truth and trust are becoming contentious topics for science and democracy. Conspiracy theories disrupt political elections, disinformation campaigns target scientific consensus around climate change and vaccines, and anti-elite populism overshadows public debates. In the midst of a pandemic, citizens find themselves asking quintessential philosophical questions: what truth is, who we can trust, or how we should trust.

The PERITIA Lectures: Trust in an Age of Disinformation delve into these phenomena to explore the concept of trust and truth in light of current events. Prominent philosophers and academics from Europe and the United States come together to present their latest research on trust in science, disinformation, vaccine hesitancy, conspiracy theories, trustworthy science, truth and democracy, and trust and cognitive science.

Hosted by the UCD Centre for Ethics in Public Life and the American University of Armenia, the lectures are open to all upon registration via Zoom and moderated by science communicator Shane Bergin. The second part of this online series runs every second Tuesday, from September to November 2021.

About the Speaker:

Maya Goldenberg is associate professor of Philosophy at the University of Guelph and a member of the Graduate Faculty at the Institute for History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Toronto. Her research is in the philosophy of medicine, philosophy of science, and bioethics. She is the author of Vaccine Hesitancy: Public Trust, Expertise, and the War on Science (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2021) and journal publications addressing philosophical issues in evidence-based medicine, vaccination, science and values, clinical care, and women’s health.

Language: English and Armenian simultaneous translation available

Registration for the PERITIA Lectures can be made here.