Lecture: “Thomas Durand – Skepticism & Cognitive Biases”

Montpellier National School of Chemistry, Mousseron Lecture Hall, 240 Avenue du Professeur Émile Jeanbrau, 34090 Montpellier.

Zeteticism examines discourse in the fields of belief and pseudoscience in order to develop the intellectual tools needed to evaluate the validity of discourse in general.

The first step in skepticism is to become aware of our own biases, the blind spots in our rationality, and what results from them despite ourselves: the persistence of debunked beliefs. No one is immune to clinging to error, because certain beliefs turn our intelligence against us.
Fortunately, there are ways to limit the damage, identify situations where error is likely, suspend our judgment, and ask ourselves the right questions. This allows us not only to avoid falling into the traps set before us, but also to outwit the greatest manipulator of all: ourselves.

This conference is organized by ED GAIA and the Montpellier Geosciences Laboratory.

About Thomas Durand

A science communicator, host of *La Tronche en Biais*, and author of books on science and critical thinking (*L’ironie de l’évolution*, Seuil, 2018; *Connaissez-vous l’homéopathie?*, Editions Matériologiques, 2019; *Quand est-ce qu’on biaise?*, Humenscience, 2019; *Pyramidologie*, 2021), and director of the Association for Science and the Promotion of Critical Thinking (ASTEC), Thomas Durand is also a novelist and playwright.

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