What should educators do about bad beliefs?

Bad beliefs are beliefs that are contrary to settled expert opinion; beliefs like “global warming is a myth” or “vaccines cause autism”. Non-experts should defer to experts when they are not themselves able to assess the evidence, so we should reject bad beliefs. Notoriously, though, large numbers of people report believing these things, and even more bizarre assertions. Many philosophers think we can avoid bad beliefs by teaching critical thinking or inculcating virtues. While these strategies have some effect, I am sceptical that they achieve very much. In fact, most people – including those who accept bad beliefs – are already broadly rational and believe what they have most reason to believe. I argue that educators do better to tackle the problem indirectly: by acknowledging the rationality of bad believers and by being realistic about what we can know and about how knowledge is produced.

Neil Levy is Professor of Philosophy at Macquarie University, Sydney, and a Senior Research Fellow of the Uehiro Oxford Institute. He has published widely across philosophy. His most recent books are Bad Beliefs: Why They Happen to Good People (OUP, 2021) and Philosophy, Bullshit, and Peer Review (Cambridge UP, 2023).

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