23/03/2022

The role of science will be debated at a seminar at IMPA.

Despite being the main element in the construction of the modern world, it is common for society not to accurately understand the usefulness of science. In times of denialism, scientific knowledge is being even more refuted – and, when not, attacked. To promote reflection on the subject, Professor Fernando Fernandez from the Department of Ecology at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) presents the interdisciplinary seminar “ This thing called science ”, this Friday (25), at IMPA. The presentation, aimed at the general public, will be at 1:30 pm, in room 224.

"I intend to convey to the public a little about what science is, how it has changed the world, and how necessary it is in this moment of obscurantism and gigantic planetary predicament, with climate change and imminent social problems," says Fernandez.

According to the researcher, "science is not part of the modern world, it made the modern world. Anything that has improved people's lives in recent centuries, from medicine to modern democracy, has come from science."

The seminar will also address the reasons for the resistance that scientific knowledge has recently aroused in the population. According to Fernandez, one of the roots of this problem lies in postmodernist philosophy, "which brought a view that there is no reality independent of the observer and that every narrative is equally valid."

The researcher believes that the lecture can be useful even for scientists already familiar with the discussion, such as the mathematicians at IMPA, "to polish their arguments for the debates that have been taking place today regarding science."