Vicious epistemic cultures ("Neřestné epistemické kultury")
Principal investigator: Doc. Laura Candiotto, PhD
Period: 1. 1. 2024 – 31. 12. 2026
Grant No. 24-11282S Czech Science Foundation Standard Grant
Abstract
The project examines the role of emotions in revision responsibility (the duty to revise one's false beliefs). It engages with the contemporary debate in vice epistemology for answering Heather Battaly’s responsibility problem (Philosophical Issues 2019). The project argues for a novel non-voluntarist account of revision responsibility grounded in a situated account of emotions in epistemic cultures. The working hypothesis is that emotions can contribute to belief revision responsibility by sparking motivation, providing basic evaluation, activating critical thinking, disclosing personal concerns, and constituting meaning if scaffolded by habits of coinquiry. The project focuses on a specific epistemic culture: online climate denialism. The power of online cultures over the individual’s epistemic lives is even stronger than that of offline cultures, given their pervasiveness and sophisticated tools for manipulating beliefs. Therefore, solving the responsibility problem in online denial cultures is more crucial than ever.
Team members
Principal investigator: Doc. Laura Candiotto, PhD
Mgr. Tanuj Raut, Ph.D.
News:
- Tanuj Raut from the University of Irvine California will join the research team as postdoctoral researcher, starting February 2025.
New publication:
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Candiotto, L. (2024) Eros in-between and all-around, Human Studies, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10746-024-09718-5 Open Access.
- Watch this video for a brief overview of the contents
Forthcoming:
- D. Pritchard (2025) Intellectually virtuous education and misinformation. In Vices of the Mind: MIS/DISinformation and Other Epistemic Pathologies, ed. M. Popa-Wyatt, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- L. Candiotto (2025) Boredom as a vice of the mind. In The History and Philosophy of Boredom, eds. A. Elpidorous and J. R. Velasco. London and New York: Routledge.
- L. Candiotto (2025) Gold in exchange for bronze. Alcibiades, Socrates’ failed student. In Alcibiades, ed. T. Duff. The Classical Press of Wales.
In preparation:
- L. Candiotto, T. Raut, A virtue theoretic account of climate denialism
- L. Candiotto, Emotional friction as a motivating reason for revision
Save the date! International Conference (Not) Caring to Know, University of Pardubice, 3rd-5th September 2025. More infos soon!