Truth, Politics, and Technolog

3 Credits · Level: Graduate, Undergraduate

As current events around the world have illustrated, epistemological issues are at the center of our political lives. Our political discourse is saturated with epistemic notions like ‘post-truth,’ ‘expertise,’ ‘trust,’ ‘fake news,’ ‘echo chambers,’ and ‘information cascades.’ Some people blame technology for fueling the both the divisions in political discourse and breakdown of common grounding on matters of fact. Others argue that technology has helped democratize knowledge and bring otherwise disparate communities together. This course investigates the contemporary context by exploring questions such as: what role should truth play in politics? What threat(s) does misinformation pose to democracy? Does deep polarization lead to an irreconcilable clash of political outlooks or is fair cooperation in spite of deep divides possible? What role can technology play in expanding access to knowledge or building communities? How should technology be used in political discourse? This course builds advanced skills to tackle this emerging area of research at the intersection of political philosophy, epistemology, and the ethics of technology. While specific readings and topics may vary from semester to semester, readings will generally be drawn from contemporary authors in philosophy.