PHIL 140.001 – Knowledge and Society - Department of Philosophy

Instructor: Dominik Berger. This course meets MTWRF 9:45 – 11:15 a.m. via remote synchronous (RS) instruction.

Many of our beliefs are formed in response to information that we find online. But not all online sources are necessarily trustworthy — we often hear about the problem of fake news and online conspiracy theories in the post-truth era. This course will examine some of these problems in more detail. We will ask questions such as: What is bullshit? How should we combat fake news? How could you know if a conspiracy theory is actually true? Which kinds of sources should we expose ourselves to? How should I react when I learn that others disagree with me? This course aims to give you the tools and background to engage with these and similar questions in a more systematic way.