The rise of authoritarianism, fascism, and illiberalism are all contributing factors to the malaise of the dark times of democracy. Many books written on this topic share a common theme. Whether one argues that democracy is resilient or democracy rests… Read More ›
Articles
Articles are stand-alone contributions to SERRC.
Reply to Neil Levy’s “Is Conspiracy Theorising Irrational?” David Coady
Neil Levy says that he rejects something he calls my “solution to the problem” (2019 fn 3). This is doubly wrong, since I not only don’t advocate the so-called solution he ascribes to me, I also don’t think the so-called… Read More ›
Talking Strategy: Conceptualizing Resistance in Oppressive Systems Through Play, Alice Fox
In her post “Inside a Game: Using Games as a Metaphor for Deconstructing the Oppressive Nature of Reality” (2020), Sindi Breshani utilizes the game Papers, Please to take a deep dive into oppressive realities and the ways in which political… Read More ›
A Translator’s Response to Reviewers’ Comments: On Li Zehou’s A History of Classical Chinese Thought, Andrew Lambert
I am grateful for this opportunity to discuss Li Zehou’s work in this interdisciplinary forum, particularly because Li’s ideas are well suited to a cross-cultural and multi-perspectival approach. His bold ideas seek to bridge cultural traditions; yet their suggestiveness is… Read More ›
The Making of Bullshit Leadership and Toxic Management in the Neoliberal University, John Smyth
My over-arching argument in this article is that both academics and students in universities have been afflicted by a set of relations that Lauren Berlant refers to as ‘cruel optimism’ (2011). Cruel optimism according to Berlant, constitutes the holding out… Read More ›
Neurath’s Ship Meets Social Epistemology, Finn Collin
Otto Neurath’s (1944) oft-quoted simile about the battered sailors gives a precise depiction of the human condition. Like other animals, humans face constant threats to their survival, but, unlike them, we are not adapted to a particular natural environment in… Read More ›
What Rationality? A Comment on Levy’s “Is Conspiracy Theorising Irrational?” Stephan Lewandowsky, Anastasia Kozyreva, and James Ladyman
Neil Levy (2019) provides several new angles on the long-standing question about the rationality, or lack thereof, of people who accept objectively unwarranted conspiracy theories. Levy’s position rests on two arguments. First, accepting conspiracy theories is subjectively rational for many… Read More ›
What Evolutionary Biology Can Tell Us About Cooperation (and Trust) in Online Networks, Toby Handfield
In their introduction to this special issue, Alfano and Klein (2019) pose two neatly contrasting questions for social epistemologists who want to take our epistemic networks seriously. First, what sort of individual epistemic properties should we cultivate, given the social… Read More ›
Political Theology of Shi’i Transfiguration: How Qasem Soleimani Will Continue to Shape the Western Asia? Morteza Hashemi
After the US assassination of Qasem Soleimani near Iraq’s international airport, many pundits have suggested that a dead Soleimani is more dangerous for US hegemony in the region, than a living Soleimani. Why? Below I highlight the political theology of… Read More ›
Scientism Versus the Theory of Mind, Alex Rosenberg
Scientism is defined by those who reject it as a brace of theses: 1. The unwarranted confidence in the methods of science as the only way to secure knowledge; 2. The unwarranted acceptance of the implications of contemporary natural science… Read More ›