Excited to share our fifth (and final) "explainer video"! (Refresher: these are ~5 min animations introducing applied epistemology concepts for a wide audience.) This one's on partisanship, featuring a script by Rishi Joshi! Please share & consider using in teaching! www.youtube.com/watch?v=ke2c...

[AEP Explainers] Partisanship (with Hrishikesh Joshi)

YouTube video by PPE at UNC

youtube.com

Welcome to the daily existence of a public health ethicist on a health sciences campus (So. Many. Unexplored. Value. Judgments.) Scientism is a heckuva drug. #SorryNotSorry #ISaidWhatISaid #PHEthx

Alex Worsnip@aworsnip.bsky.social · 5mo ago

New paper! I investigate cases where experts tacitly encode value judgments into their public pronouncements, and examine the complications this presents for the rationality of deference to experts, with a particular focus on pandemic policy. (1/2) philpapers.org/rec/WORCVJ

New paper! I investigate cases where experts tacitly encode value judgments into their public pronouncements, and examine the complications this presents for the rationality of deference to experts, with a particular focus on pandemic policy. (1/2) philpapers.org/rec/WORCVJ

Alex Worsnip, Covert Value Judgments in Expert Testimony - PhilPapers

Scientific experts frequently say things that encode value judgments, not least when they are called on to offer advice or recommendations. Often, however, the value judgments underlying their testimo...

philpapers.org

Really excited about the lineup for this. Check out the full thread for details and for how to apply to be a respondent.

The Applied Epistemology Project @ UNC@unc-aep.bsky.social · 11mo ago

We're delighted to announce the fourth (and final!) Applied Epistemology Project workshop, on Applied Epistemology in Times of Political Crisis, here at UNC on March 6-7, 2025. (1/3)

AEP research getting out there! 👏👏👏

Jeff Greene@jeffgreene.bsky.social · 11mo ago

Honored to co-present with Aditi Ahuja (her first academic conference presentation and she did great!) at the Humility in Inquiry conference. We presented data on factors affecting people’s willingness to defer to experts.

22 new papers up at @philimprint.bsky.social, including papers by @thisishannahkim.bsky.social, @catsaintcroix.bsky.social, @wiglet1981.bsky.social & @jweisber.bsky.social, @dellsen.bsky.social, @bartstreumer.bsky.social, and @aworsnip.bsky.social. journals.publishing.umich.edu/phimp/

(Kinda) new paper, with the fab Z Quanbeck, finally out @ Phil Imprint! We defend a combo of epistemic permissivism + limited pragmatism re reasons for belief. This preserves some features of pragmatic encroachment views while avoiding their drawbacks. journals.publishing.umich.edu/phimp/articl...

For one year only, the 8th Chapel Hill Normativity Workshop will (paradoxically) be in Montreal! Keynote by Jane Friedman plus 7 talks selected via open CFA. As usual, accepted papers eligible for special issue of Phil Studies. Submissions due Oct 15th; more info at normativity.web.unc.edu

Very excited to share our third "explainer video". (Refresher: these are ~5 min animations introducing applied epistemology concepts for a wide audience.) This one's on epist of free speech, featuring a script by Rob Simpson! Please share & consider using in teaching! www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMgb...

[AEP Explainers] The Epistemology of Free Speech (with Robert Simpson)

YouTube video by PPE at UNC

youtube.com

Reminder: tomorrow is the deadline to apply for this! It's a chance to get expert instruction in public writing on applied epistemology, feedback from peers, and to enjoy an in-person workshop here at UNC

The Applied Epistemology Project @ UNC@unc-aep.bsky.social · last yr.

Interested in writing applied epistemology for a public-facing audience? Apply to be part of our new working group! It'll meet four times over the summer, followed by a capstone in-person event here at UNC in September facilitated by Eleanor Gordon-Smith. Details here: philevents.org/event/show/1...

🥁🎉It's time again! My colleague Thomas Grundmann is organising the Cologne Summer School in Philosophy. This year's star is @aworsnip.bsky.social (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill). 🎊📢 You can find more information on the following website: cssip.uni-koeln.de Spread the word and repost!

The exciting AEP announcements just keep on coming! This is a really cool initiative being spearheaded by our summer 2025 RA Devin Lane--anyone interested in writing applied epistemology for a public audience should apply!

The Applied Epistemology Project @ UNC@unc-aep.bsky.social · last yr.

Interested in writing applied epistemology for a public-facing audience? Apply to be part of our new working group! It'll meet four times over the summer, followed by a capstone in-person event here at UNC in September facilitated by Eleanor Gordon-Smith. Details here: philevents.org/event/show/1...

These explainer videos (produced and animated by the fantastic Ripley Stroud) are among my favorite things we're doing at the @unc-aep.bsky.social. The second one just came out, featuring Kevin Dorst on polarization. Please check it out and share widely!

The Applied Epistemology Project @ UNC@unc-aep.bsky.social · last yr.

Very excited to share our second "explainer video". (Refresher: these are ~5 min animations introducing applied epistemology concepts for a wide audience.) This one's on polarization, featuring a script by Kevin Dorst! Please share, consider using in teaching, etc! www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9nd...

What a gigantic surprise--the "civil discourse" folks have been having a little trouble with their civil discourse www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty...

Resignations, Disagreements With Dean Roil UNC Civics School

UNC professors who supported the initiative when others derided it are resigning and denouncing its leader. It’s an ironic turn for a civil discourse school.

insidehighered.com

In support of #philosophymatters, this fortnight I'll be highlighting things that don't matter that are not philosophy. First up: layovers.

Fascinating new post on our blog by Emily McWilliams, discussing the denial and undertreatment of women's pain in medical procedures through the lens of applied epistemological work on testimonial injustice, manufactured ignorance, and motivated reasoning: aep.unc.edu/2025/03/17/t...

One columnist, a professional pundit, is living in a paranoid delusion. The other, a sociologist, is living in America.

Is the unwillingness of deferring to experts really a serious societal pathology? Review by @aworsnip.bsky.social et al explores under exactly what conditions we ought to defer to experts, and under what conditions people are willing to defer to experts: buff.ly/NXuDVSu

New Paper in Philosophical Psychology: Trust in experts is low. Why? How bad is it? And what should we do? To answer these questions, we reviewed philosophy (when *ought* we defer to the experts) and psychology (when *do* people defer to the experts). Link in comments!

Speedy work by @journalphp.bsky.social and their publishers--the published version of the paper is now available, open access (thanks to our grant!), here: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Authority or autonomy? Philosophical and psychological perspectives on deference to experts

Several decades of work in both philosophy and psychology acutely highlights our limitations as individual inquirers. One way to recognize these limitations is to defer to experts: roughly, to form...

tandfonline.com

Alex Worsnip@aworsnip.bsky.social · last yr.

First (soon to be) published paper to come out of a fun collaborative project we're doing at UNC with a group of philosophers and psychologists on deference to experts!

The disease of the American political class is the inability to see, describe, or respond what is happening, when doing so would conflict with the speech norms of the American political class

I wrote a blog post about Samuel Alito as a case study in the ethics of suspicion and psychologizing blogs.cardiff.ac.uk/openfordebat...

Samuel Alito and the Ethics of Suspicion

Exploring the changing nature of public debate

blogs.cardiff.ac.uk

First (soon to be) published paper to come out of a fun collaborative project we're doing at UNC with a group of philosophers and psychologists on deference to experts!

Jeff Greene@jeffgreene.bsky.social · last yr.

Mistrust in experts is high. So, under what conditions should people defer to experts and when do they actually do so? We synthesized the philosophy and psychology literatures on deference to experts in this preprint, soon to be published in Philosophical Psychology. (1/2) https://buff.ly/3ERGzqq

It's this kind of thing that gives me hope that we live in a simulation designed by a massive joker and all the other crap that's going on is just a part of that too

holden m. accountable@noahs.bsky.social · last yr.

regret to inform everyone this is a real guy who could be pope

Interesting to see that US safety standards focus on what happens to people inside the car on collision, whereas in the UK there’s a much greater focus on pedestrian safety and that of people in the cars you collide with.

Abby D.@abbykbhomesleak.bsky.social · last yr.

Cyber truck seized in UK. It doesn't meet standards for driving in the country & is not permitted on the streets. www.forbes.com/sites/peterl...

I'm honored to be the guest lecturer at this year's Cologne Summer School in Philosophy, where I'll be delivering five lectures (plus a public lecture) on my current work in applied epistemology. (1/2) cssip.uni-koeln.de

Genuinely never thought I'd see the day when Mitch McConnell was described by other Republicans as a "RINO". *Mitch McConnell* as "Republican in Name Only". Because he--what?--opposed like 1% of Trump's agenda and appointments?

Starmer confirming the UK is willing to put boots on the ground in Ukraine. An immense moment. Hard to overstate how important this is or how impressive it is that he's done it.

Alex Thomas@alexgathomas.bsky.social · last yr.

Important. Gosh. The PM: “These crucial days ahead will determine the future security of our continent. As I will say in Paris, peace comes through strength. But the reverse is also true. Weakness leads to war.” www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/202...