“Anti-Intellectualism?”: Situating Javier Milei’s Discourse About Science

Abstract

The relationship between far-right and science has gained increasing scholarly attention, yet existing analyses often rely on broad labels such as “anti-scientific” or “anti-intellectual” without sufficient conceptual precision. This lack of precision, in turn, commonly leads to an inadequate analysis of the discourse of figures such as Argentine President Javier Milei. This article attempts to overcome this limitation by applying to Milei’s case a novel theoretical framework that distinguishes between two complementary dimensions of anti-science attitudes: an epistemological axis and an ethical–political axis. Empirically, the study draws on roughly 109 h of public statements produced by Milei between December 2023 and July 2025, analysed through a qualitative discourse approach inspired by grounded theory. The findings show that Milei selectively targets publicly funded intellectuals and institutions, framing them as corrupt, useless, or indoctrinating, while simultaneously praising market-oriented knowledge producers. Epistemologically, however, he does not reject science per se; instead, he frequently celebrates scientific progress and expert authority, except in specific cases such as climate change where his market fundamentalism overrides scientific consensus. We show that Milei’s discourse is better understood as a “war over science” – an attempt to appropriate science under neoliberal logics – rather than as wholesale anti-scientific rejection.