{"id":2809,"date":"2016-03-20T01:45:34","date_gmt":"2016-03-19T23:45:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/netzwerk-homoeopathie.info\/?p=2809"},"modified":"2020-04-11T13:35:47","modified_gmt":"2020-04-11T11:35:47","slug":"wie-die-homoeopathie-den-gesunden-menschenverstand-ausser-kraft-setzt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/netzwerk-homoeopathie.info\/en\/wie-die-homoeopathie-den-gesunden-menschenverstand-ausser-kraft-setzt\/","title":{"rendered":"How homeopathy overrides common sense"},"content":{"rendered":"Lesedauer \/ Reading Time:<\/span> 6<\/span> min<\/span><\/span>

What makes common sense?<\/h4>\n
\"The
Pay attention!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As a university teacher, I try to teach my students one thing above all else: common sense. By this I mean the willingness and ability to adhere to simple reasoning principles when thinking, e.g. the principle of not only considering the pro-arguments for a position, but also the contra-arguments. Each of my students accepts these principles of reason – mostly immediately and without contradiction. Everybody! For they are so plausible that our own reason forces us to accept them.<\/p>\n

Students often ask me why I spend so much time explaining things that every child should understand. The reason for this is simple: common sense is child’s play – until it is no longer. When we think about questions to which we have no emotional connection, we are sober, serene, reasonable. Our common sense works. However, this has an end as soon as it comes to things that are close to our hearts. Every means is right for us here to support the position that is most sympathetic to us. We then search for evidence for our point of view and ignore everything that speaks against it. Psychologists speak of “confirmation bias” or “disconfirmation bias” in this context. A research team around the American psychologist Dan Kahan has even found out that trial participants literally let five be straight when it comes to their own political views. They accepted arguments for their position even when they obviously violated basic rules of calculation (Kahan et al. 2013).<\/p>\n

Homeopathy is a good example of a bad example<\/h4>\n

Common sense cannot be overridden only by our political orientations. In my courses I often use the topic “homeopathy” to demonstrate how easily intelligent people get stuck in outrageous theses. I choose this topic for two reasons:<\/p>\n