Filtering Truth: A Graduate Conference on Epistemic Bubbles, Echo Chambers and the Spread of Misinformation

Description

This year’s WFAP graduate conference is devoted to the increasingly relevant phenomena of socio-epistemic structures in which the access to relevant sources of information is “filtered”, i.e., systematically modified, so as to channel certain contents to the exclusion of others. As a result, the epistemic attitudes of participants in such structures and their conferral of epistemic credentials on others are manipulated. Philosophical reflection on the topic aims to conceptualize information filters and related phenomena in order to explore their normative dimensions. 

We aim to bring together early career and advanced researchers in order to discuss questions such as: What differentiates echo chambers from epistemic bubbles? Are epistemic bubbles inherently bad? How does one “pop” an epistemic bubble or break out of an echo-chamber? How do epistemic bubbles and echo chambers interact with other pernicious misinformation phenomena (e.g. fake-news, post-truth attitudes, bullshitting, conspiracy theories, etc.). What role can and should epistemic experts play in navigating this? What roles do epistemic virtues and vices play?