Epistemology Commons^™

Human Evil (In The Weird), Lucas Ethridge

University Honors Theses

This paper examines a trending doom in speculative fiction: the post-human age. Many modern works have started to look past human civilization as humans surrender all hope and faith in a climate-doomed world. Honing in on core concepts in Weird fiction, this paper explores human merit through Old and New Weird. A good part spends time establishing the canon, looking at similar patterns across age, philosophy, war and genre. The chief question asks if humankind was ever worth saving.

From Sensibility To Critical Engagement: Sympathy, Animality, And Subjecthood In Wollstonecraft’S Maria And Vindication, Yingnan Shang

Comparative Woman

This paper examines Mary Wollstonecraft’s strategic use of sentimental animal tropes alongside rationalist critique in Maria, or The Wrongs of Woman (1798) and A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792), arguing that she mobilizes sensibility not as an end in itself, but as a pedagogical instrument within a broader project of aesthetic education—one intended to move readers from affective sympathy toward political and philosophical judgment. Focusing in particular on animal metaphors—especially in the character of Jemima, who repeatedly figures herself as a domesticated and brutalized creature—I trace how Wollstonecraft employs tropes of animality to illuminate the processes by which …

Sosialisme Dalam Utopia Subak: Pergeseran Dan Krisis Nilai Kolektivitas Di Era Bali Modern, Lucia Yerinta Destishinta, Budhi Cahyo Priadiantoro

Multikultura

As a system of irrigation and traditional organization in Bali, Subak has functioned for centuries in collectively managing the equitable distribution of water resources. Its role as a socio-ecological institution is based on local values; it reflects the principles of collectivity and mutual cooperation, which align with the idea of socialism. However, agricultural modernization and the expansion of agrarian capitalism have caused a shift in collective work patterns within the Subak system. Based on this phenomenon, this article aims to examine these changes from a socialist perspective and their implications for the sustainability of the agricultural system in Bali. Using …

Listening To Wrong Beliefs: Being A Virtuous Agent In Contexts Of Disparity, Madison K. Mendiola

PANDION: The Osprey Journal of Research and Ideas

Using the concept of intellectual humility (IH) described by Whitcomb et al. (2021) and their application of IH in contexts of disparity, I will be furthering the discussion of the importance of IH when engaging with the other side. Although there are intellectual harms associated with being too open-minded, and moral concerns about being a listener to harmful ideas, I argue that epistemic agents risk committing an intellectual error when they don’t try to understand the beliefs of the in-the-wrong party. Even in contexts of disparity, you should be able to understand the other party’s belief-forming methodologies, which is compatible …

Hermeneutical Priming And Linguistic Hijacking In The God’S Not Dead Series, Brant Entrekin

Journal of Religion & Film

In this paper, I analyze the evangelical Christian film series God's Not Dead. I argue that the film series functions as Christian Nationalist propaganda through its rhetoric and aesthetic choices. I then develop two forms of epistemic manipulation that the film uses to fulfill its propagandistic function: hermeneutical priming and linguistic hijacking. I suggest that the film series' use of these rhetorical strategies highlights some of the ways that evangelical Christian cinema is engaging with rising right-wing political movements and developing unique evangelical imaginations.

Steiner And Jung On Esoteric Knowledge, Katherine T. Ziemke Mst, Jd, Phd Candidate

Journal of Conscious Evolution

For centuries, humanity has been accumulating complex knowledge, systematically building increasingly intricate mathematical and scientific models by accruing predictable circumstances or facts, often designated as theories or laws. This essay proposes that there is a hidden well-spring of ideas or knowledge beyond the methodical accumulation of such mathematical and scientific knowledge, from whence the source that inspired the basis of this knowledge might have originated. Carl Gustav Jung and Rudolf Steiner believe there is an abundance of such knowledge that lies hidden in plain sight and available for a vast expansion of human awareness. In this essay, I take a …

Book Review On Epistemology Of Modality And Philosophical Methodology (Edited By Anand Jayprakash Vaidya And Duško Prelević), Kumar Rajan

Comparative Philosophy

No abstract provided.

Artificial Ignorance: Understanding The Role Of Ai In Modern Agnotology, Amit Ray, Michael Nolan

Articles

This paper explores the concept of agnotology, the deliberate production of ignorance, within the context of modern scientific endeavors, particularly in the corporate and technological sectors. It examines how industries use various tactics to manipulate public understanding of scientific issues, often to protect profits and limit liability. The rise of private sector funding and the increasing reliance on technologies like AI and machine learning have exacerbated this process by making scientific inquiry more opaque and less accountable. Ultimately, we argue that as knowledge production becomes more entangled with corporate interests and technological systems, traditional methods of oversight and regulation are …

Elizabeth Female Academy: A Historical Case Study Revealing Antebellum Mississippi's Role In Shaping The Southern Belle, Summer Cutrer Tierno

Dissertations

Historians and educational scholars have extensively examined the subject of women's education, resulting in a rich body of literature that traces its evolution over the centuries. Moreover, this body of work encompasses significant movements advocating for women's rights to education and the establishment of colleges specifically for women. Scholars have also analyzed the challenges women encounter in accessing educational opportunities, including societal norms, economic barriers, and institutional discrimination. Notable works highlight the contributions of key figures, such as Mary Wollstonecraft, who advocated for women's education in both historical and contemporary contexts. Overall, this comprehensive scholarship not only documents the advancement …

Critical Communication Pedagogy At The End Of The World, Tyler S. Rife

Journal of Communication Pedagogy

This essay draws upon my experiences teaching the undergraduate course, “Communication at the End of the World,” to argue for an approach to critical communication pedagogy (CCP) contextualized by and reflexively responsive to planetary-scale ecological crises. I outline how five commitments have come to guide my classroom’s explorations through our topic of “end-times” communication: (1) Anthropocentrism and speciesism participate in the maintenance of social hierarchy; (2) environmental justice and social justice are intimately entangled projects; (3) ecological crisis is (re)made concrete, embodied, proximal, and implicative; (4) critique of language involves critique of humanism and humanist historicization; and, (5) ecologically just …

Teaching Philosophy, Growing Child’S Empathy : Derrida’S Trace Theory For Critical Thinking And Character Education, Fatimah Fraya, Fristian Hadinata

International Review of Humanities Studies

Child bullying cases increased significantly following the pandemic and took its toll on the need for emergency tackling and preventive action. This research focused on philosophy as a an approach to character building, using the synthesis method of literature views which also inspired from previous teachings known as Philosophy for Children (P4C), combined with hands-on experiment simulation. The aim is to discover a practical learning concept to enable philosophy to be introduced in children's classrooms at a certain age. Researchers found the intersection between philosophy and child character building beneficial in refining their empathy cognitively and creating better generations in …

Cyber Attacks On Government-Managed Systems: A Social Epistemology Perspective, Aurelia Bunga Anggun Putri Romavella, Fristian Hadinata

International Review of Humanities Studies

This article examines cyberattacks on government-managed systems from the perspective of social epistemology. The development of information technology, particularly the internet, has changed the way governments operate and interact with the public. However, these changes have also created new vulnerabilities to cyberattacks that can disrupt public services, undermine public trust and threaten national security. Social epistemology, with its focus on how knowledge and beliefs are constructed and disseminated in society, provides a useful analytical framework for understanding these cyberattack dynamics. This article examines how cyberattacks affect the production, distribution and validation of knowledge in the context of governance. By analyzing …

The Impact Of Adverse Childhood Experiences And Living With Hiv On Cardiovascular Health And Cardiometabolic Disorders In An African Population: An Analysis Of The Indepth Community In Rural South Africa, Samuel Gavi

Theses and Dissertations

Background: Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) have been shown to be associated with cardiometabolic disorders (CMDs) and poor CVH; however, in Africa, this has not been well studied. Cardiovascular health (CVH) is an important measure of risk for cardiovascular diseases (CVD) developed by the American Heart Association (AHA). With the increasing prevalence of CVD in Africa, CVH is a potential upstream prevention approach. Africa also has the highest prevalence of HIV, and an increasing prevalence of comorbidities associated with it. Various mechanisms have been investigated to explain the relationship between CVD and chronic HIV infection. This study explores the potential relationship …

Not Staying Regular?, Joshua Thong

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Consider the following claims: 1. Rational credences are real-valued. 2. A rational agent is more confident in than in just in case appropriate set-theoretic relations between the relevant events and/or appropriate inequalities between her numerical credences, whether conditional or not, hold. 3. If a rational agent’s conditional credence in, given, is greater than her conditional credence in, given, then she is more confident in than in. 4. There are two distinct and particular ways of ordering the events in a lottery over the naturals, for each of which there exists a rational agent whose comparative confidence ordering corresponds to that …

Living Heritage, Resilience And Ethically Informed Infrastructures In Malawi, Martha B. Lerski, Frank Puluputu Mwale

Publications and Research

Rooted in a rural community’s needs, this paper explores how historically, and ethically informed infrastructures can support community engagement towards identification, documentation, and dissemination of local, traditional, and indigenous knowledge relating to climate change. The paper examines climate adaptation and sustainability issues through the lenses of community organizing and Library & Information Science best practices. It draws on a growing body of literature identifying a role for expanded epistemological and subject discipline perspectives. While the impacts of climate on material culture are increasingly recognized, intangible, and biocultural heritage have not received as much attention. Living heritage traditions and knowledge systems …

Democracy, Expertise, And The Disinformation Problem, Richard Randall Frohock Iv

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Experts are an essential part of our social epistemology. They grant us access to knowledge that would otherwise be inaccessible. Because of this, experts are also typically seen as invaluable political contributors. Without expert contributions, public policy risks being ill-informed and therefore incapable of addressing society’s needs. Recently, however, the extent to which expertise should inform public policy has come into question. Fueled largely by disinformation, there is a growing movement against traditional experts. Those within this movement argue that experts have overstepped their bounds and are working against the societies they are meant to be helping. Fearing that that …

Safe-Haven Ignorance: The Epistemic Refugee, Purya Rabet

PSU McNair Scholars Online Journal

This paper engages with the emerging field of ignorance studies. Per feminist critique, the classic “X knows that p” formulation in epistemology fails to account for the subjectivity and situatedness of X. Building on feminist and critical race theory contributions, this paper puts forward a positive theory regarding resistance to belief-revision. The inquiry concerns the relationship between X’s ignorance and X’s self. This paper interrogates defensive reactions to knowledge and their connection to the narrative sense of self. It introduces “safe-haven ignorance”—a psycho-sociopolitical defense mechanism—which occurs when an individual becomes hostile toward knowledge that contradicts their established self-narrative. This contradiction …

Magicicada And Mathematics: What The Parochiality Of Our Explanations Means For The Indispensability Argument, Jadyn Malone

Philosophy Senior Theses

This thesis examines whether the indispensability argument justifies belief in the existence of mathematical entities. I adopt ontological naturalism, arguing that we should believe in entities that feature in our best scientific theories, which are determined through inference to the best explanation. The indispensability argument contends that because mathematical entities are explanatorily indispensable to our best scientific theories – as demonstrated by examples like the prime number explanation of cicada life cycles – we should believe they exist just as we believe in electrons and stars.

However, I identify a challenge: our scientific explanations are inherently parochial, shaped by human …

Arts-Based Sustainability: From New York To Malawi, Martha B. Lerski

Publications and Research

Recognizing that libraries serve multiple constituencies and subject areas, this chapter documents and advocates for development of transdisciplinary arts-based research (ABR) and culture-related projects linked to environmental challenges. Libraries contribute collections and spaces, as well as the research of library and information scientists. Libraries are currently among invisible contributors to sustainability planning and services. The chapter will link this invisibility to the value of what visual arts refer to as negative space elements in subjects ranging from traditional ecological knowledge to environmental science. Library collections, projects, and research contribute to education for sustainable development (ESD) as required to achieve the …

On The Interpretation And Analytics Of Cogito, Ergo Sum, Jacob H. Riggs

2025 Symposium

Descartes’ famous axiom, “cogito, ergo sum,” was supplied as a supposedly viable first principle of philosophy. According to Descartes, this foundation is so clear and distinct that through our knowledge of it we can deduce nearly any other information we seek to establish as true. Descartes himself contends that the deductions proceeding from this foundation rival those of mathematics and geometry in certainty. The research conducted here aimed at discerning the veracity of Descartes’ claim concerning the validity of the Cogito as a first principle. To determine the validity of Descartes’ principle, first the efficacy of his rationalist …