Persuasion and Paternalism

Abstract

Abstract This chapter discusses the problem of what to do about public ignorance, and in particular the problem of global warming scepticism. The chapter starts by distinguishing between the empirical issue of which methods of persuading global warming sceptics to change their minds are likely to be effective and the normative issue of whether these methods are morally permissible. It then addresses both the empirical and the normative issue. So far as the empirical issue is concerned, the chapter draws on political psychology and science communication to argue that the most effective methods of persuading people to change their minds about politically contentious scientific issues are ‘marketing methods’—methods that seek to sell science, rather than persuade purely through the force of reason and evidence. So far as the normative issue is concerned, the chapter argues that science marketing need not infringe on our intellectual autonomy and is not objectionably paternalistic.