Truth and Politics

Catalog description

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.’ This course tackles the emerging area of research at the intersection of political philosophy and epistemology, with a goal of making sense of our contemporary challenges. We will explore questions such as: what role should truth play in politics? What threats do misinformation and disinformation pose to democracy? Does deep polarization lead to an irreconcilable clash of political outlooks or is fair cooperation in spite of deep divides possible? Students will receive credit for PHI 3235 or POL 3235, not both. These courses may substitute for each other in the F-replacement policy.