Applied Epistemology
What should we believe? Who can we trust? How should we respond when our peers disagree with us? What are echo chambers and polarization and why should we avoid them? What are the epistemic powers of democracies? What is the difference between lies, fake news, propaganda, and bullsh*t? Is it ever reasonable to believe in miracles, conspiracy theories, and rumors? What are the epistemic harms of prejudice and ignorance? These are some of the big questions that will be covered in this course, which applies traditional theories of knowledge to a wide range of contemporary issues.
Skepticism
Stroud: "The Problem of the External World"
Chalmers: "Matrix as Metaphysics"
Vogel: "The Refutation of Skepticism"
Fumerton: "The Challenge of Refuting Skepticism"
Analysis of Knowledge
Gettier: “Is Justified True Belief Knowledge?”
Zagzebski: "The Inescapability of Gettier Problems"
Kaplan: "It's Not What You Know that Counts" & Pritchard: "The Value of Knowledge" (§1-2)
Externalism
Goldman: "What is Justified Belief?"
Srinivasin: “Radical Externalism”
Internalism
Conee and Feldman: “Internalism Defended”
Foundationalism and Coherentism
Bonjour: “Can Empirical Knowledge have a Foundation?”
Sosa: “The Raft and the Pyramid”
Virtue Epistemology
Greco: “Virtues and Vices of Virtue Epistemology”
Cassam: “Vice Epistemology”
Testimony
Lyons: "Testimony, Induction and Folk Psychology”
Lackey: “Testimonial Knowledge and Transmission”
Miracles and Conspiracies
Hume: “Of Miracles”
Keeley: “Of Conspiracy Theories”
Cassam: "The Problem with Conspiracy Theories"
Rumors
C. Coady: “Pathologies of Testimony”
D. Coady: “Rumour Has It”
Peer Disagreement
Feldman: "Reasonable Religious Disagreements"
Elga: "Reflection and Disagreement”
Kelly: “Peer Disagreement and Higher Order Evidence”
Expertise
Goldman: "Experts: Which Ones Should You Trust?"
McGrath: "Moral Disagreement and Moral Expertise"
Free Speech and Propaganda
Goldman and Cox: "Speech, Truth, and the Free Market for Ideas"
Stanley: Selections from How Propaganda Works
Political Epistemology
Anderson: “Epistemology of Democracy”
Lynch: "Arrogance, Truth, and Public Discourse"
Brennan: "Does Public Reason Liberalism Rest on a Mistake? Democracy's Doxastic and Epistemic Problems"
Polarization
Kelly: "Disagreement, Dogmatism, and Belief Polarization"
McWilliams: "Evidentialism and Belief Polarization" (§1–4.5, 5.0–5.1, and 5.3.2.)
Echo Chambers
Nguyen: “Echo Chambers and Epistemic Bubbles”
Anderson: "Epistemic Bubbles and Authoritarian Politics"
Bullsh*t and Fake News
Frankfurt: "On Bullshit"
Rini, “Fake News and Partisan Epistemology”
Epistemic Injustice
Craig: Knowledge and the State of Nature (selections)
Fricker: “Rational Authority and Social Power: Towards a Truly Social Epistemology”
Mills: "White Ignorance"
Bias
Elga: "On Overrating Oneself... And Knowing It"
Gendler: “On the Epistemic Costs of Implicit Bias”
Begby: "The Epistemology of Prejudice"