Halpern, Megan and Elliott, Kevin (2022) Science as Experience: A Deweyan Model of Science Communication. [Preprint]

Preview

Text Science as Experience Preprint.pdf Download (345kB) | Preview

Abstract

The field of science communication is plagued by challenges. Communicators face the difficulty of responding to unjustified public skepticism over issues like climate change and COVID-19 while also acknowledging the fallibility and limitations of scientific knowledge. Our goal in this paper is to suggest a new model for science communication that can help foster more productive, respectful relationships among all those involved in science communication. Inspired by the pragmatist philosophy of John Dewey, we develop an experience model, according to which science communication consists in people’s experiences with science and the meanings they develop from those experiences. Three principles are central to the model: experience is cumulative, context matters, and audiences have agency. We argue that this model has significant implications both for communication research and practice, which we illustrate by applying it to the phenomenon of vaccine hesitancy. We show how science communicators can help to identify and alleviate structural factors that contribute to skepticism as well as fostering opportunities for meaning making around shared experiences.

---

Export/Citation:

EndNote | BibTeX | Dublin Core | ASCII/Text Citation (Chicago) | HTML Citation | OpenURL

Social Networking:

Share |

---

Item Type:	Preprint
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID Halpern, Megan mhalpern@msu.edu Elliott, Kevin kce@msu.edu 0000-0003-3397-7849
Keywords:	science communication; science and values; Dewey; vaccines; pragmatism
Subjects:	General Issues > Ethical Issues Specific Sciences > Medicine > Health and Disease Specific Sciences > Medicine General Issues > Science and Society General Issues > Science and Policy General Issues > Values In Science
Depositing User:	Kevin Elliott
Date Deposited:	20 Mar 2022 03:26
Last Modified:	20 Mar 2022 03:26
Item ID:	20341
DOI or Unique Handle:	https://doi.org/10.1162/posc_a_00398
Subjects:	General Issues > Ethical Issues Specific Sciences > Medicine > Health and Disease Specific Sciences > Medicine General Issues > Science and Society General Issues > Science and Policy General Issues > Values In Science
Date:	March 2022
URI:	https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/20341

Monthly Views for the past 3 years

Monthly Downloads for the past 3 years

Plum Analytics

Altmetric.com

Actions (login required)

View Item