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    The Formation of Epistemic Networks

    The Formation of Epistemic Networks

    FromCenter for Advanced Studies (CAS) Research Focus Reduction and Emergence (LMU)

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    The Formation of Epistemic Networks

    FromCenter for Advanced Studies (CAS) Research Focus Reduction and Emergence (LMU)

    ratings:
    Length:
    49 minutes
    Released:
    Dec 12, 2014
    Format:
    Podcast episode

    Description

    One important area of study for social epistemology is the social structure epistemic groups -- who communicates their knowledge with whom? Significant research has been done on better and worse communication networks, but less has been done on how a group comes to have one network or another. In this talk, I will present a number of results (some recent) from economics and philosophy about how individuals choose with whom to communicate. Understanding how individuals decide where to gain information can help us to design institutions that lead to epistemically more reliable groups. | Center for Advanced Studies & Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy: 12.12.2014 | Speaker: Kevin Zollmann
    Released:
    Dec 12, 2014
    Format:
    Podcast episode

    Titles in the series (25)

    Through the reduction of one theory or discipline to another, the results of the reduced theory or discipline can be obtained from the reducing one. In contrast, a theory that describes emergent phenomena is ostensibly autonomous: no other theory can be understood as providing a reducing basis. Questions of emergence and reduction determine how much one discipline can borrow from another, and, to a certain extent, what structures scientific theories in various disciplines can have. Successful reductions increase the epistemological importance of the reducing theories, and arguably their claim to research funding as well. If it is shown that a phenomenon is emergent, on the other hand, the discipline concerned with the emergent phenomenon is unlikely to be replaced by research in other fields, and thus requires its own funding. Furthermore, stronger relationships between the disciplines make it difficult to cast doubt on a small number of selected theories without affecting the rest of the sciences. This is important, for example, in the politically motivated, selective doubt of the theory of evolution, climate research, or genetic technology.