philosophy
abzul13
CredibilityLecture.ppt
Major Ideas
- Claims and Sources
- Interested vs. Disinterested Parties
- Memory and Personal Observations/Experience
- Prior Knowledge and Initial Plausibility
- Credibility (Bias vs. Expertise)
Freewrite: Sources
- Where do you get your information? If you want to know something, where do you go? Who, or what, do you turn to?
Freewrite: Sources Part 2
- Did the points Pariser makes in the video change your mind, even slightly, about your initial responses to the above questions? If so, how? If you were already aware of Pariser's points, do you think they are significant and relevant to this discussion? Why or why not? If you disagree with Pariser, why?
Claims and Sources
Claims: statements, sometimes called propositions, that can in principle be true or false.
Sources: literally where the claim comes from, like a person, group, organization, blog, YouTube video, book, academic journal, and many, many more.
- There are varying degrees of credibility in both claims and sources.
Interested vs. Disinterested Parties
Interested Parties: people who stand to gain from your belief in a claim.
Disinterested Parties: people with no stake in your belief in a claim.
Interested vs. Disinterested Parties
Interested Parties: people who stand to gain from your belief in a claim.
Disinterested Parties: people with no stake in your belief in a claim.
- But isn’t everyone an interested party?
- Friedrich Nietzsche said that all life is driven by the will to power: a deep desire to dominate others and/or the environment.
Personal Observations/Experience
Personal observations/experience includes our immediate thoughts, observations, and general sensations.
- Two important points about personal experience:
- It’s the most immediate source of info we have.
- It’s extremely flawed, biased.
Factors that Bias Our Personal Experience
Cognitive Biases
Emotions
Physical Factors
Deeper Psychology
Inaccurate Memories
We are pattern-seeking creatures
The Virgin Mary?
Memory
Who started the fight?
- Subjects in a study were asked this question after observing a staged fight.
- Most subjects remembered the fight inaccurately.
This suggests that memory is less reliable than we often think.
Prior Knowledge
Prior knowledge: the body of justified beliefs consisting of facts from our personal observations/experience and facts from others.
Some facts about prior knowledge:
- Generally, having more prior knowledge is good.
- Sometimes if one’s prior knowledge is false, it can inhibit learning.
Is the claim initially plausible?
A claim lacks credibility if it conflicts with:
- Personal Experience
- Prior Knowledge
Initial Plausibility: low or high? How likely is the claim to be true?
Best strategy: be skeptical while keeping an open mind, like Socrates.
Credibility =
Expertise plus Bias
Expertise: experience and education most important, then accomplishments, reputation, and position.
Bias: is he/she an interested party? (Or at least, less interested?)
Credibility =
Expertise plus Bias
Expertise: experience and education most important, then accomplishments, reputation, and position.
Bias: is he/she an interested party? (Or at least, less interested?)
- Factors that are not relevant to credibility: gender, age, personal traits (like nervousness), and so forth.
News Media
- Generally, media owners are conservative and media anchors are liberal.
- Since the mid 20th century, ownership has been consolidated from thousands of companies to about 5 companies.
The Internet
- Google is a search engine, not a source.
- Wikipedia: a good starting point.
- The credibility of blogs and podcasts depends on the creators/participants.
Some Recommended Sources
- PBS Newshour
- The BBC
- Scientific American
- Consumer Reports
- Very Bad Wizards (Podcast)
- Recommended search engines: Google Scholar and Startpage.
