Ateneo - UPO

The course focuses on issues of social and political epistemology in the era of social media. The first part introduces the basic conceptual tools and key issues of social epistemology. The second part uses these tools to analyze phenomena such as fake news, epistemic bubbles, and conspiracy theories, in various ways related to the use of social media. The third part explores the connections between these phenomena and the problems that plague contemporary democracies, such as irrationality and voter polarization.

The required texts are the same for both attending and non-attending students:1) the professor's lecture notes, available on DIR at the end of the course;2) Benson, J. (2025). Intelligent Democracy. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

The fundamental educational objective of the course is to know the main themes of contemporary social and political epistemology, with particular attention to the issues concerning social media and democracy. A more advanced educational objective is to be able to argue for or against the theories that will be the subject of the course, mastering the technical details and indicating their strengths and weaknesses.

No prior knowledge of the course topics is required.

Lectures including some interactive participation. Students can be invited to present articles or book chapters.

Students with physical disabilities, learning disabilities or special education needs can request specific services and tools through Staff Sviluppo e Coordinamento Carriere e Servizi alle Studentesse e agli Studenti, by consulting the University webpage: https://www.uniupo.it/en/services/services-students-physical-or-learningdisabilities Students with disabilities, learning disabilities or special education needs, once they have contacted Staff di Ateneo, can refer to the course coordinator to define special exam modalities.

Oral exam of a maximum duration of 30 minutes. The exam is aimed at verifying the achievement of the Educational Objectives and the Expected Learning Outcomes. The evaluation will be based for 30% on the learning of the notions covered in the course, for 30% on the autonomy of critical judgment, for 20% on the clarity of exposition and for 20% on the mastery of scientific terminology. For honours, the ability to establish original and rigorous connections between the topics of the course is required.

These are the main topics of the course (we may however deviate from this program depending on the specific interests of the participating students).

Part I: Social epistemology
1. Introduction to social epistemology
2. The epistemology of testimony
3. The problem of expert reliability
4. Coverage and information relevance
5. Disagreement among peers and among experts
6. Epistemic injustice and feminist epistemologies

Part II: Epistemology of the internet and social media
1. The problem of internet reliability
2. Epistemic bubbles and echo chambers
3. Fake news
4. Conspiracy theories

Part III: Epistemology and democracy
1. Political disagreement and polarisation
2. Ignorance and irrationality in politics
3. Democracy, epistocracy and lottocracy

At the basic level, the expected learning outcomes are the following:(1. Knowledge and ability to understand) familiarity with the key notions and arguments of current social and political epistemology;(2. Applied knowledge and ability to understand) identification of the strengths and weaknesses of the theories and arguments proposed;(3. Independent judgment) development of reasoned opinions on the topics of the course;(4. Communication skills) ability to clearly illustrate the main lines of the contemporary debate;(5. Learning skills) independent exploration of the basic themes of research in social and political epistemology..At the advanced level, the expected learning outcomes are the following:(1. Knowledge and ability to understand) knowledge and understanding of the technical details of current social and political epistemology;(2. Applied knowledge and ability to understand) ability to evaluate the effectiveness of the technical details in the analysis of the main questions posed by current social and political epistemology;(3. Independent judgment) ability to use advanced technical notions to develop reasoned opinions on the topics of the course;(4. Communication skills) ability to clearly illustrate technical details even to those who are not familiar with current social and political epistemology;(5. Learning skills) ability to independently explore some technical aspects of the contemporary debate.