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Informationen zum Autor David Coady is a lecturer in philosophy at the University of Tasmania, Australia. He has published widely on topics in applied epistemology, including expertise, conspiracy theory, rumor, and the blogosphere. He is the editor of Conspiracy Theories: The Philosophical Debate (2006) and he has also published on metaphysics, the philosophy of law, police ethics, the ethics of horror films, and the ethics of cricket. Klappentext What can we know and what should we believe about today's world? What to Believe Now: Applying Epistemology to Contemporary Issues applies the concerns and techniques of epistemology to a wide variety of contemporary issues. Questions about what we can know-and what we should believe-are first addressed through an explicit consideration of the practicalities of working these issues out at the dawn of the twenty-first century.Coady calls for an 'applied turn' in epistemology, a process he likens to the applied turn that transformed the study of ethics in the early 1970s. Subjects dealt with include:* Experts-how can we recognize them? And when should we trust them?* Rumors-should they ever be believed? And can they, in fact, be a source of knowledge?* Conspiracy theories-when, if ever, should they be believed, and can they be known to be true?* The blogosphere-how does it compare with traditional media as a source of knowledge and justified belief?Timely, thought provoking, and controversial, What to Believe Now offers a wealth of insights into a branch of philosophy of growing importance-and increasing relevance-in the twenty-first century. Zusammenfassung What can we know and what should we believe about today's world? What to Believe Now: Applying Epistemology to Contemporary Issues applies the concerns and techniques of epistemology to a wide variety of contemporary issues. Questions about what we can know-and what we should believe-are first addressed through an explicit consideration of the practicalities of working these issues out at the dawn of the twenty-first century.Coady calls for an 'applied turn' in epistemology, a process he likens to the applied turn that transformed the study of ethics in the early 1970s. Subjects dealt with include:* Experts-how can we recognize them? And when should we trust them?* Rumors-should they ever be believed? And can they, in fact, be a source of knowledge?* Conspiracy theories-when, if ever, should they be believed, and can they be known to be true?* The blogosphere-how does it compare with traditional media as a source of knowledge and justified belief?Timely, thought provoking, and controversial, What to Believe Now offers a wealth of insights into a branch of philosophy of growing importance-and increasing relevance-in the twenty-first century. Inhaltsverzeichnis Preface ix1 Introduction 12 Experts and the Laity 273 Epistemic Democracy 594 Rumors and Rumor-Mongers 865 Conspiracy Theories and Conspiracy Theorists 1106 The Blogosphere and the Conventional Media 1387 Conclusion 169Postscript: Government Surveillance and Privacy 175References 188Index 197...