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

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

Very excited to share our fourth "explainer video". (Refresher: these are ~5 min animations introducing applied epistemology concepts for a wide audience.) This one's on ignorance, featuring a script by Jessie Munton! Please share & consider using in teaching! www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOj3...

[AEP Explainers] Ignorance (with Jessie Munton)

YouTube video by PPE at UNC

youtube.com

Uh, make that 2026. Apologies!

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)

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.

I wrote about epistemic trespassing and why it is bad for my Substack. Tl;dr: it is tempting to talk about it as a moral failing but I think it is often more helpful to view trespassing behaviour as a rational response to bad incentives. rbnmckenna86.substack.com/p/what-is-wr...

What Is Wrong with Epistemic Trespassing?

Epistemic Trespassing and the Division of Cognitive Labour

rbnmckenna86.substack.com

New blog post! AEP postdoc Will Conner discusses recent news that Meta has been accused of cheating on AI benchmark tests, leading to a broader discussion of the value of such tests drawing on Thi Nguyen's work on gamification and value capture. Check it out! aep.unc.edu/2025/07/09/g...

Good Plain English pod featuring @holdenthorp.bsky.social. I appreciated Holden’s candor regarding scientists’ attempts to influence politics and when such attempts might edge into epistemic trespassing, which is an idea addressed in our recent paper (1/2) open.spotify.com/episode/4Pee...

Megapod: The Crisis in American Science

Plain English with Derek Thompson · Episode

open.spotify.com

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

Many (applied) epistemologists think that when you know that there's expert consensus about something, you should defer to the expert consensus. And many of them also think that when you know the experts disagree, you should suspend judgment. (1/2)

Devin Lane, Should You Defer to Individual Experts? - PhilPapers

Should you defer to individual experts? That is, when a single expert – rather than a group of experts or even expert consensus – testifies that p, should you believe that ...

philpapers.org

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!

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...

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...

[AEP Explainers] Political Polarization (with Kevin Dorst)

YouTube video by PPE at UNC

youtube.com

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...

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!

i'm taking part in this philosophy panel on the future of social media next month, with @geneickers.bsky.social, @joe-saunders.bsky.social, and organiser @annabortolan.bsky.social. it's online and open to the public, so sign up if you want to hear some hot takes!

Philosophy and Social Media: The Good, the Bad, and the Future

Philosophy and Social Media: The Good, the Bad, and the Future Social media play a significant role in the life of many people. For example, through these platforms we can not only connect a...

philevents.org

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

Check out this interdisciplinary review paper on deference to experts by a team of AEP Fellows (current and past)!

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

Consider applying to be part of this summer school (aimed at researchers of all career stages) on applied epistemology featuring AEP Director @aworsnip.bsky.social!

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

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

New from me @theconversation.com We're witnessing a celebration of "common sense" among the new admin & their allies. But remember: celebrating common sense and denigrating expertise/evidence IS ideological. And is NOT a reliable path to truth. theconversation.com/how-populist...

How populist leaders like Trump use ‘common sense’ as an ideological weapon to undermine facts

When common sense is promoted as a virtue, it’s not just to celebrate how regular people understand the world. It promotes a worldview that rejects empirical facts and paves the way for propaganda.

theconversation.com

I’ve been studying this problem since 2015. Obviously the nature of this changed with the birth of X. It’s gone from over-indexed on the political nerds & activists to over-indexed on Nazis & fascists. It’s no good.

Clara Jeffery@clarajeffery.bsky.social · 2y ago

a very real problem is how many politicians and household name MSM journos still get their news—and gauge public reaction—from Twitter.

I started a Political Epistemology substack, and I decided to begin with an uncontroversial topic. I currently have 3 followers, but I welcome more!

Social Identity and Epistemic Privilege

Is there an epistemic advantage to being oppressed?

open.substack.com

On Saturday, K-12 educators from across the Triangle joined us on UNC's campus for "The Art of Inquiry: Promoting Responsible Belief in the Classroom." With guidance from @jeffgreene.bsky.social (UNC) and Paula McAvoy (NCState), participants learned strategies for fostering critical thinking...(1/2)

New blog post! AEP Postdoctoral Fellow Will Conner evaluates Meta's change in fact-checking policy in light of recent applied epistemology scholarship by @danwphilosophy.bsky.social and others, and concludes that the sky is probably not falling. Check it out: aep.unc.edu/2025/01/20/i...

Here's the background and syllabus (including 'core readings') for a seven-week philosophy module I'm teaching on 'Politics, truth, and ideology'. Feedback welcome: www.conspicuouscognition.com/p/politics-t...

Politics, truth, and ideology: A syllabus

Democracy, technocracy, Marx, ideology, critical theory, identity politics, standpoint theory, free speech, cancel culture, truth, populism, and post-truth

conspicuouscognition.com

So fun talking to teachers about "Educating for Responsible Belief" at the “The Art of Inquiry: Promoting Responsible Belief in the Classroom” event hosted by the Applied Epistemology Project at UNC-CH (@unc-aep.bsky.social). Slides available if you're curious: https://buff.ly/4jeXJhr

Excited to introduce a new series of explainer videos--5 min videos explaining concepts and debates in applied epist w/scripts written by experts and animations by the super-talented Ripley Stroud. The 1st features a script by Giulia Napolitano on conspiracy theories: www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtWA...

[AEP Explainers] Conspiracy Theories (with Giulia Napolitano)

YouTube video by PPE at UNC

youtube.com

David Brooks gave my essay 'Why do people believe true things?' a 'Sidney Award' in his column at the NYT: www.nytimes.com/2024/12/26/o...