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I had been meaning to blog for a while about the question of whether it is worthwhile engaging with fringe views, whether those that are just barely represented within the academy, or those beyond its pale. It seems appropriate to\u00a0return to the topic now, since Richard Carrier has offered two blog posts which react to my articles about his book in\u00a0The Bible and Interpretation<\/em>. The first one<\/a> says, in summary, \u201cYou didn\u2019t mention everything I said in my book about Gnosticism, and I hope my readers are gullible enough to believe that means you must be wrong about the things you did discuss.\u201d The second<\/a> is even more laughable, because Carrier writes:<\/p>\nYou have to use my numbers. Because those are the numbers borne out by the facts. If you want to use different numbers, you\u2019d better go find some different facts. Until you do, there is nothing left to discuss. The numbers are what they are. Cope.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Carrier, as anyone familiar with\u00a0what he has written will know, is guilty of badly distorting the facts \u2013 whether about Jesus\u2019 brother, or about what Paul writes about his descent from David, or anything else that doesn\u2019t suit the \u201cconclusion\u201d that he has decided in advance he wants to reach.<\/p>\n
In both blog posts, Carrier\u00a0complains that I discussed the matter in mainstream historical terms, and not in the mathematical terms which he prefers. But since he is currently the only one who suggests that all historical arguments must be laid out in Bayesian terms, and since Carrier claims that any historical argument can be presented in Bayesian terms, he is free to rework arguments and interact with them in that way, but until such time as he persuades the field of history to adopt his preferred approach, it is unfair to complain that scholars aren\u2019t doing it. In fact, it is interesting that the only people who seem to think that historical or pseudohistorical matters should be assessed in Bayesian terms<\/a> are apologists: Richard Carrier, and William Lane Craig.<\/p>\n
I think these blog posts of his provide evidence\u00a0that engaging with fringe views is indeed useful \u2013 not, in many instances, those who dogmatically adhere to such views, but at least in showing that the holders of fringe views, while they often attempt to get things published in scholarly\u00a0venues in order to make themselves and their views seem more plausible to the general public, in fact have no sincere interest in the kind of scholarly engagement that the academy demands.<\/p>\n
Since some readers of this blog complain when I make comparisons between mythicism and other fringe viewpoints, I should point out that one\u00a0can see the same\u00a0exact approach Carrier uses on Intelligent Design blogs like Uncommon Descent. There\u2019s the accusation that critics have not even read<\/a> the works they discuss. And there\u2019s the attempt to use formal logic<\/a> not to make the argument more sound, but to make it seem more impressive to a public that doesn\u2019t grasp the evidence and issues.<\/p>\n
Of related interest, Paul Braterman<\/a>\u00a0and Jerry Coyne<\/a> blogged about not engaging with creationism<\/a>, and Daniel Gullotta<\/a> blogged about whether or not to engage the Christ myth viewpoint. BoingBoing<\/a> and\u00a0Rebecca Trotter<\/a> had pieces about creationism as well. An article<\/a> also appeared about whether climate scientists should\u00a0present their views to lawmakers. The Washington Post<\/em><\/a> suggested that science teachers inadvertently undermine acceptance of evolution through the way they present things. Age of Rocks<\/a> offered a wonderful analogy of how denialists use doubt.<\/p>\n
Ken Perrott blogged about debating with anti-science activists<\/a>, and the problems of getting accurate scientific information out via social media<\/a>, because of the insularity of networking among people and\u00a0groups that reject science.<\/p>\n
What are blog readers\u2019 thoughts on this topic? Obviously one can try to address all the major claims of fringe views, but one cannot try to answer every blog post that seeks to do damage control or spin things. Is there a happy medium, and if so, what is it? How have you seen fringe views\u00a0about science, history, or other subjects addressed effectively and ineffectively on the internet?<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I had been meaning to blog for a while about the question of whether it is worthwhile engaging with fringe views, whether those that are just barely represented within the academy, or those beyond its pale. It seems appropriate to\u00a0return to the topic now, since Richard Carrier has offered two blog posts which react to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":28970,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[148,64],"tags":[714,1048,1049,3648,4660,5273,6670,7853,9711,9719,10359,13756],"class_list":["post-27020","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-intelligent-design-pseudoscience","category-mythicism","tag-apologists","tag-bayes-theorem","tag-bayesian","tag-fringe","tag-history","tag-intelligent-design","tag-logic","tag-mythicism","tag-pseudo-science","tag-pseudoscholarship","tag-richard-carrier","tag-william-lane-craig"],"yoast_head":"\n
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