Social Media and the Epistemic Environment: How Individuals Navigate the Impact

Abstract

This dissertation investigates three questions related to how individuals can and should navigate the current epistemic environment in the age of social media.

In Chapter 1, “Epistemic Decentralization,” I explore what is philosophically and ethically unique about the current epistemic environment. I propose that with the advent of social media, we are experiencing an epistemic phenomenon called epistemic decentralization. I argue that there are several decentralized epistemic resources that profoundly affect our capacity as a knower. Moreover, I argue that epistemic decentralization brings both significant costs and benefits.

In Chapter 2, “Fake News and the Duty to Reserve Reliance,” I investigate the duty individual users have in the face of the challenges arising from the advent of social media, specifically the problem of fake news. I argue that individuals have at least a pro tanto duty to reserve reliance on their beliefs concerning important social news they encounter on social media. More specifically, this duty entails that individuals have one of the two following duties when they share information online. If users can verify the truthfulness, they have the duty of verification. If they cannot, they have the duty of disambiguation.

In Chapter 3, “Social Media and Open-Mindedness,” I argue that while it is difficult to identify experts and fake news is rampant on social media platforms, open-mindedness should still be regarded as an important virtue for social media platform users for two reasons. First, genuine open-mindedness not only requires an outward-looking willingness to be open and impartial when evaluating new arguments and evidence; it also requires an inward-looking awareness of the arenas within which one is capable of responding to reasons. Moreover, as genuine open-mindedness requires the inward-looking component, it can help them develop other epistemic and non-epistemic virtues, such as intellectual humility and empathy, which can foster a better epistemic environment.