#64: Andrew Spear on Epistemic Porn

Today, we hear from Andrew Spear, a professor of philosophy at Grand Valley State University. More specifically, Andrew is an epistemologist. His primary interest is in knowledge—he asks how we come to our beliefs about the world; how we come to know things, or believe that we know things; how we justify our beliefs. I wanted to talk with Andrew because I wanted to know how his work as an epistemologist has responded to our present anti-epistemological political moment: “fake news,” Kellyanne Conway's “alternative facts.” All facts are politicized; what one chooses to believe seems entirely dependent on one’s politics. Andrew and I talk about the dangers of this state of affairs. One such danger: to become addicted to what Andrew calls, quite aptly, epistemic porn. In this episode, Andrew offers a definition of epistemic porn. We discuss the implications of the definition, as well as the definition itself.

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