GRIPh Colloquium Paulina Sliwa (Vienna)

Title: Echo Chambers as Bad Perspectives

Abstract: In social epistemology, echo chambers are invoked to explain a range of phenomena, including intractable disagreements and increasing polarisation. But what is an echo chamber? According to an influential account by C. Thi Nguyen, echo chambers are informational environments characterised by selective evidence and distorted trust. 

To become trapped in an echo chamber about childhood vaccinations is not only to acquire false beliefs about childhood vaccinations, but also to acquire false beliefs about which sources of information about childhood vaccinations are trustworthy. I argue that echo chambers do not peddle beliefs, but rather bad perspectives: they offer hermeneutical resources for making sense of a specific subject matter. I argue that a perspective-based account better captures the distinctive features of echo chambers and suggests alternative routes of escape.

If you want to join for (selfpaying) dinner at Semsom, please let Lienke know (fil-secretariaat rug.nl) asap, but at the latest by May 26.