Abstract
What must laypersons understand about science to allow them to make sound decisions on
science-related issues? Relying on recent developments in social epistemology, this paper argues
that scientific education should have the goal not of bringing laypersons' understanding of
science closer to that of expert insiders, but rather of cultivating the kind of competence
characteristic of “competent outsiders” (Feinstein 2011). Moreover, it argues that philosophers of
science have an important role to play in attempts to promote this kind of understanding, but that
to successfully fulfill this role, they will have to approach central questions in the field
differently