[LUM#1] Knowledge put to the test of doubt
"What do I know?" asked Montaigne. Faced with the amount of information that feeds us without asking our opinion, the question arises more than ever... The influence of the moon on plants, the effectiveness of high-protein diets, the supposed harmfulness of GMOs or even that of vaccines...
So many social issues on which you may have a strong opinion. But how are they formed? In the age of the information superhighway, convictions are formed at broadband speed. To quench our thirst for certainty, there are now countless sources, and rumors are powerfully relayed: the blogosphere, social networks, talk shows, magazines...
Critical thinking
A cacophony in which authorized opinions sometimes culminate: those of the "experts". Voices that help to forge our most ineradicable convictions. The very ones we should sometimes be wary of ... "An expert presented as such is not always so. They may also be outside their field of expertise, influenced by a vested interest, express a personal opinion... or even be wrong!"
First reflex? Doubt, of course: the first step on the road to critical thinking. To exercise it fully, however, we need to "look for contradictory statements, but also apply simple methods: identify the underlying issues, assess the quality of sources, the strength of arguments presented, methodological rigor, the degree of expertise of the speaker..." summarizes Guillemette Reviron, a doctorate in mathematics and co-founder of the Cortecs collective.
Democratic issues
Founded in 2010 in university circles in Grenoble, Montpellier and Marseille, this "collective for teaching and research in critical thinking and science" offers courses, presentations and free access to educational resources. The idea is to enable everyone, as far as possible, to make informed choices. Caroline Roullier, a doctor in biology and member of the collective, explains: "In our courses, we always raise simple, stimulating subjects that elicit few emotional reactions, before moving on to more complex questions."
According to the Cortecs collective, the very functioning of our democracy is at stake. "Justified or not, our convictions help to shape the world in which we live. They underpin our collective decisions, as well as those of our elected representatives". Knowledge: a power issue that citizens must no longer leave in the hands of experts, explains Guillemette Reviron. "Today, everyone is overwhelmed by increasingly complex issues. Understanding them better is a good start to taking your place in the decision-making process".
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