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Northeastern University
Pandemic Initiative
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Modules

The Social Epistemology of Coronavirus

This module focuses on how the pandemic is affecting our ability to acquire knowledge through digital technology and on how digital technology is affecting our ability to acquire knowledge about the pandemic.

 

  1. Lecture: Introduction Video

The focus of my research and teaching is social epistemology.  That is, I study how people can acquire knowledge in a social world.  In particular, I am interested in both the positive and negative impacts of digital technology on our ability to acquire knowledge.  The internet and smartphones give us easy access to immense computing power and huge databases.  Social media and videoconferencing facilitate communication and collaboration with large numbers of people at great distances from us.  But these digital technologies can also diminish the influence of traditional information gatekeepers, promote belief polarization, and facilitate online deception.

 

  1. Lecture: The Weight of Evidence and the Pandemic
  2. Reading: Don Fallis, “Pandemic Safety and the Weight of Evidence (or is simply being human a risk factor for novel coronavirus?)”

 

 

  1. Lecture: Credible Testimony and the Pandemic
  2. Reading: Don Fallis, “Testimony about the Coronavirus”
  3. Reading: Don Fallis, “Credibility in a Crisis”
  4. Reading: Don Fallis, “Crying Wolf in Reverse”
  5. Reading: Don Fallis, “Appeals to Authority and the Coronavirus”

 

 

  1. Lecture: Misinformation and the Pandemic
  2. Reading: Don Fallis, “The Coronavirus Infodemic”
  3. Reading: Don Fallis, “More Disinformation about the Coronavirus”

 

 

  1. Lecture: Gaslighting and the Pandemic
  2. Reading: Don Fallis, “Gaslighting and the Coronavirus”

 

  1. Lecture: The Future of Lying and the Pandemic
  2. Reading: Don Fallis, “The Future of Lying in the Era of the Coronavirus”

 

 

  1. Lecture: Crowdsourcing and the Pandemic
  2. Reading: Don Fallis, “Crowdsourcing and the Coronavirus”

 

  1. Lecture: Privacy and the Pandemic
  2. Reading: Don Fallis,“Privacy and the Coronavirus”
  3. Reading: Don Fallis, “Privacy versus Safety”
  • Shlomo Cohen, “Manipulation and Deception,” Australasian Journal of Philosophy
  • Don Fallis & Kay Mathiesen,“Fake News,” Inquiry: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Philosophy
  • C. Thi Nguyen, “Echo Chambers and Epistemic Bubbles,” Episteme
  • Merilee Salmon, “Statistical Syliogisms,”Logic and Critical Thinking
  • Andrew D. Spear, “Epistemic Dimensions of Gaslighting,” Inquiry: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Philosophy

Instructor

  • Don Fallis

    Don Fallis

    Professor Of Philosophy and Computer Science

    Don Fallis is a Professor of Philosophy and Computer Science at Northeastern University. His research interests include epistemology, philosophy of information, and philosophy of mathematics. His articles on lying and deception have appeared in the J…

Learning Through the Pandemic: What can the COVID-19 pandemic teach us about ourselves and our world?

Contact

360 Huntington Avenue, 450 Renaissance Park
Boston, MA 02115
617-373-4140
nuhumanities@northeastern.edu

Support

The Pandemic Teaching Initiative is supported by the College of Social Sciences and Humanities, the Humanities Center, the NULab for Texts, Maps, and Networks, the Ethics Institute, and The School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs at Northeastern University.