Scientism, Beliefs and the Fight against Dérives Sectaires
Denis Mathieu on the unnamed scientism in French education - Comte, Renan, the popular-science magazines - and how it lends tacit authority to anti-cult journalism: a close reading of one investigation that lists facts under the heading "the facts" and demonstrates nothing, and of a Sciences et Avenir dossier that treats scholarly caution as mere academic reserve.
1 August 2010