In 2000, McIntyre became a special assistant to the executive dean of the faculty and arts and sciences at Harvard University.[3] In addition, he was an instructor of ethics at the Harvard Extension School[6] and was the executive director of the Institute for Quantitative Social Science at Harvard University. He is a research fellow at the Boston University Center for Philosophy and History of Science.[7]
Many of McIntyre's nonfiction books are concerned with the nature of scientific knowledge generation and validation. These include Explaining Explanation: Essays in the Philosophy of the Special Sciences,[9]Laws and Explanation in the Social Sciences,[4]Dark Ages: The Case for a Science of Human Behavior,[10] and Respecting Truth: Willful Ignorance in the Internet Age.[11]
In his 2018 book Post-Truth, he explored the environment and "atmosphere" surrounding the concept of post-truth.[12]Carlos Lozada, reviewer for The Washington Post, wrote that Post-Truth "convincingly tracks how intelligent-design proponents and later climate deniers drew from postmodernism to undermine public perceptions of evolution and climate change."[13]
In his 2019 book, The Scientific Attitude: defending science from denial, fraud, and pseudoscience, McIntyre describes scientific thinking and the demarcation problem as a willingness to revise an opinion after discovering new evidence.[2][14]Publishers Weekly said that the book "articulates why the pursuit of scientific truths, even if inevitably flawed and subject to human error, matters."[15]Harriet Hall reviewed the book for Skeptical Inquirer Magazine and wrote that MacIntyre tries to explain science by explaining what it is not.[16]The Scientific Attitude was also reviewed in The Guardian.[17]
MacIntyre was also the co-editor of three anthologies: Readings in the Philosophy of Social Science, Philosophy of Chemistry, and Philosophy of Chemistry, 2nd edition.[18][19][20]
McIntyre also writes suspense fiction. His novel The Sin Eater is a thriller published in 2019.[24]
Presentations
Michael Shermer invited McIntyre to present on his program Science Salon # 77: The Scientific Attitude: Defending Science from Denial, Fraud, and Pseudoscience.[25] On March 17–20, 2021, McIntyre presented at the first Global Congress on Scientific Thinking and Action; in his presentation, "Science Denialism", he discussed his conversations with flat earth believers, which would become the basis of his book, How to Talk to a Science Denier.[26] He stressed the importance of face-to-face conversations and gaining the trust of the people you are trying to convince.[27][28]
Awards and recognition
His book Post-Truth was named book of the week by Fareed Zakaria of CNN.[29] It was also the winner of the CHOICE Outstanding Academic Titles for 2018.[30]
Selected publications
Book
Year
Title
Publisher
ISBN
1994
Readings in the Philosophy of Social Science. (co-editor with Michael Martin)
^ abMcIntyre, Lee C. (1996). Laws and explanation in the social sciences: Defending a science of human behavior. Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press. ISBN0813328284. OCLC34281771.
^McIntyre, Lee C. (June 12, 2017). "Lee McIntyre". Harvard Extension School. Retrieved November 9, 2019.
^McIntyre, Lee C. (2012). Explaining explanation: Essays in the philosophy of the special sciences. Lanham, Maryland. ISBN9780761858690. OCLC779265260.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^McIntyre, Lee C. (2015). Respecting truth: Willful ignorance in the Internet age. New York. ISBN9781138888807. OCLC896601738.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^Scerri, Eric R.; McIntyre, Lee C., eds. (November 11, 2014). Philosophy of Chemistry: Growth of a new discipline. Dordrecht. ISBN9789401793643. OCLC895161921.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^Martin, Michael; McIntyre, Lee C., eds. (1994). Readings in the philosophy of social science. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press. ISBN0262132966. OCLC29386457.
