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epistemology

The Epistemology of Rumours

The Epistemology of Rumours

Posted on 8 January 2024 by

Rumours disrupt official lines of communication and can derail policy. During the 2013 – 2016 West African Ebola outbreak, rumours were that medics were stealing bodies to be sold for […]

The Myth of Intellectual Individualism

The Myth of Intellectual Individualism

Posted on 27 December 2021 by

Have courage to use your own understanding. This, Kant declared, as the motto of the Enlightenment. This same sentiment is echoed in the more contemporary call to think for yourself. […]

Deepfakes, Fake Barns, and Problems of Safe Belief

Deepfakes, Fake Barns, and Problems of Safe Belief

Posted on 17 May 2021 by

Every year, Queen Elizabeth II speaks to the UK in her annual Christmas Address. In her 2020 Address, the Queen not only spoke highly of NHS nurses, doctors, and other […]

Why Twitter is (Epistemically) Better Than Facebook

Why Twitter is (Epistemically) Better Than Facebook

Posted on 11 January 2021 by

Online Environments Social media has the potential to expand our epistemic horizons, connecting us with a wider range of people and more information and analysis than ever before. But it […]

Not so Ignorant After All: Metaknowledge Matters More than Knowledge

Not so Ignorant After All: Metaknowledge Matters More than Knowledge

Posted on 14 December 2020 by

In one way or another, democracies put political power in the hands of the people.  A perennial worry about democracy, voiced almost as soon as it was invented, is that […]

The epistemic predicament of the conspiracy theorist

The epistemic predicament of the conspiracy theorist

Posted on 15 June 2020 by

A group of international public health scientists has recently published a statement in the prestigious medical journal The Lancet about the origins of the Sars-CoV-2 virus, the pathogen responsible for […]

Following the science: trust, experts, and COVID-19

Following the science: trust, experts, and COVID-19

Posted on 20 April 2020 by

Students of recent social epistemology could be forgiven for thinking that the world’s social and political problems begin and end with the threat of “fake news”. The thought is that […]

Depending on others for knowledge

Depending on others for knowledge

Posted on 13 January 2020 by

We depend on others. We depend on others when we are sick or when we need help moving into a new house. We also depend on others for knowledge. We […]

How To Build A Safer Internet

How To Build A Safer Internet

Posted on 18 November 2019 by

Earlier this year, the UK government consulted on an Online Harms White Paper that proposes a new model of social media regulation. The response to the consultation was lukewarm at […]

I am an atheist

I am an atheist

Posted on 9 September 2019 by

I am an atheist.  That is, I believe that God does not exist.  I don’t make a point of telling people this (except when I’m writing a philosophical piece like […]

On Being Entitled to One’s Opinion

On Being Entitled to One’s Opinion

Posted on 11 February 2019 by

We’re each entitled to our opinion; or so the undergraduates in my introductory philosophy course remind me.  They’re right, of course.  But I suspect that they misunderstand what they’re right […]

Changing minds through argumentation: Black Pete as a case study

Changing minds through argumentation: Black Pete as a case study

Posted on 22 October 2018 by

Views on the efficacy of argumentation to change minds in public discourse vary widely. On the one hand, there is a long-standing tradition that emphasizes the significance of argumentation and […]

Speak Up!: Inquiry and Expressing Disagreement

Speak Up!: Inquiry and Expressing Disagreement

Posted on 16 July 2018 by

In 1994, Richard Herrnstein and Charles Murray published The Bell Curve.  In it, the authors notoriously argued that the difference in performance on IQ tests between members of different races […]

Poisonous Words: Arrogance, Bullshit and Accusations of Lying in Public Discourse

Poisonous Words: Arrogance, Bullshit and Accusations of Lying in Public Discourse

Posted on 23 April 2018 by

As is common with international incidents today, the Skripal case, in which a Russian double agent and his daughter were poisoned with a nerve agent in Salisbury, England, has generated […]

Intellectual Humility and Conviction

Intellectual Humility and Conviction

Posted on 12 March 2018 by

Here is a puzzle. On the one hand, we laud people in public life for their conviction, for sticking to their principles come what may. Indeed, we take to be […]

What is Google Doing to Us?

What is Google Doing to Us?

Posted on 4 December 2017 by ,

By J. Adam Carter and Emma C. Gordon Suppose you wanted to know who the first pope was after St. Peter (answer: Pope Linus, born 10 AD), or what the […]

What we’ve got here is failure to communicate

What we’ve got here is failure to communicate

Posted on 19 June 2017 by

Debate is a social process of interactive communication. We can distinguish at least four roles associated with parties to a debate. First, there are the debaters themselves — at least […]