Abstract Because of the pejorative connotation of the concept of “conspiracy theory”, many philosophers have proposed that the concept should be redefined. Their worry is that if conspiracy theories are considered implausible by definition, then the theories cannot get fair… Read More ›
Articles
Articles are stand-alone contributions to SERRC.
On Scientism’s Merry-Go-Round, Renia Gasparatou
A few months into the pandemic, and I was surprised so many people explicitly rejected expert advice. Mostly, I was shocked by their arguments: they said that scientists keep changing their minds; that not all scientists agree on what we… Read More ›
Algorithmic Opinion Mining and the History of Philosophy: A Response to Mizrahi’s For and Against Scientism, Andreas Vrahimis
As Moti Mizrahi’s editorial introduction points out, For and Against Scientism ‘arises from an exchange between several scholars over the pages of the Social Epistemology Review and Reply Collective’ (Mizrahi 2022, 18) in response to Mizrahi (2019). Mizrahi (2019) defended… Read More ›
24 Philosophy Professors React to ChatGPT’s Arrival, Part II, Ahmed Bouzid
• Joe Cruz, Williams College In the near term, I’m not much worried about the effect on the work students do. Yes, ChatGPT is impressive. If I were teaching an 11th grade US history class, I would probably have to… Read More ›
24 Philosophy Professors React to ChatGPT’s Arrival, Part I, Ahmed Bouzid
For someone like myself who makes their living in the field of Human Language Technology, two dates from the past decade or so have stood as watershed moments in that field: October 4, 2011 when Apple’s Siri was launched with… Read More ›
The Le Monde Declaration: Can Suppression of Conspiracy Theory be Conspiratorial? Lee Basham
Remarkably, with a dash of amusement, the answer to the question posed in the title is “yes”. The irony of the Le Monde declaration lives on. Let’s turn our thoughts to plagiarism. Of course, we need to take plagiarism and… Read More ›
The Beauty of Understanding: Scientific Understanding as Aesthetic Experience, Bridget Ritz and Brandon Vaidyanathan
Our standard images of science and scientists fail to portray the way in which scientists themselves experience science—as an aesthetic quest. They ignore the way in which scientists are driven by a passion for beauty and a childlike thirst to… Read More ›
Postmaterialism, Anyone? Brian Martin
Conventional scientific theories can’t explain telepathy and precognition. Nor can they provide a convincing explanation for consciousness. The usual scientific assumption is that the material world is all there is. To explain anomalous evidence, should this assumption be superseded by… Read More ›
Open-Mindedness, Rational Confidence, and Belief Change, Katia Vavova
Abstract It’s intuitive to think that (a) the more sure you are of something, the harder it’ll be to change your mind about it, and (b) you can’t be open-minded about something if you’re very sure about it. If these… Read More ›
Science and Art: An Epistemological Analysis, Bonaventure Balla
Abstract Some researchers look at others from other fields condescendingly and contemptuously. For instance, some regard poetry, poets, and art in general as useless. They have not yet understood that every epistemic area can contribute to the quest for truth… Read More ›