“When facts change, I change my mind”

GIOVANNI BIRINDELLI, 7.2.2021

In a recent article, Daniel Hannan defended the right of politicians to change their mind (and the kind/amount of coercion they apply to individuals) on the grounds of new empirical evidence: “When the facts change, I change my mind … If that is true of experts, it is true, too, of politicians”.

Even though this position sounds lovely, it ignores a fundamental difference between natural and social sciences.