Misology

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Misology is defined as the fear or distrust of reason or logic. In that sense, it is the hatred of argument or debate or even speech. It is also defined sometimes as anti-intellectualism.

The word is derived from the Greek -miso meaning hate and -logy meaning study or science.

In Plato’s Phaedo, Socrates comments on misology by comparing it with misanthropy. Just like someone might love and trust all human beings but when deceived by one man can grow to dislike all humanity, so can someone who trusts in reason or logic grow to distrust it when he sees that it can be misused to support any stance. In the text, Socrates warns Phaedo of the dangers of misology. According to Plato, the way to guard against misology is to select first arguments or theses wisely, after much research and study, so as not to be proved false later.

The word misologist was only invented in 1870, and became popular through Benjamin Jowett's famous translation of Plato's Dialogues: "As there are misanthropists or haters of men, there are also misologists or haters of ideas." (Dr. William Long)

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