The most important concept that science has brought to the world, is the evidence-based approach, and the realisation which follows - that knowledge about the world is tentative knowledge. This concept denies dogmatism, and the claims of irrational intuition, and is the bedrock upon which democracy is founded.

In the end, dogmatism is incompatible with the pragmatic, tolerant political philosophy of John Locke, who was the father of liberal democracy. And reliance upon irrational intuition makes it impossible to argue against the chauvinists, racists, and proponents of various kinds of fundamentalism, who are the enemies of a civilised society.

Dick Taverne is author of The March of Unreason: Science, Democracy and the New Fundamentalism (buy this book from Amazon (UK) or Amazon (USA)).