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Accepted manuscript

Unreasonable Doubt. How Strategic Science Skeptics Exploit the Argument from Disagreement

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 January 2026

Alexander Reutlinger*
Affiliation:
Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy, Fakultät für Philosophie, Wissenschaftstheorie und Religionswissenschaft, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Geschwister-Scholl-Platz 1, 80539 München, Germany; email: Alexander.Reutlinger@lmu.de.
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Abstract

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Strategic science skeptics criticize scientific claims solely to promote non-epistemic goals. I will analyze and debunk a philosophically neglected argument exploited by strategic science skeptics: the argument from disagreement. The core of this argument is that one should lower one’s confidence in a scientific claim when having learned that there is a scientific disagreement about this claim. I will develop a (Bayesian) Justificatory Account of Multiple Testimony to provide a normative characterization of how learning about agreements and disagreements is connected to confirming and disconfirming scientific claims. I will use this account to debunk the argument from disagreement.

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Article
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2026. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Philosophy of Science Association