PHIL 140.001 – Knowledge and Society

Instructor: William Conner. This course meets MWF 9:05 – 9:55 a.m. in CW 105.

Aristotle says that human beings by nature desire to know. He also tells us that human beings are social animals. In this class, we will take these two thoughts seriously and examine their epistemological consequences. With our desire to know and our inherent sociality always in view, our guiding questions will be: (1) What does it mean to have knowledge? (2) When can and should we rely on others in forming our beliefs? (3) How should we respond to disagreement with our peers? (4) Can facts about our social identities determine what we can know? And (5) how can we form beliefs responsibly in the age of social media? Topics will include the concept of knowledge; trust and expertise; peer disagreement; bias, stereotyping, and prejudice; feminist standpoint theory; and misinformation and echo chambers.

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