Lehrende: Dr. Abida Malik
Veranstaltungsart: Seminar
Anzeige im Stundenplan: DM.B-MA-2 (MW)
Unterrichtssprache: Englisch
Min. | Max. Teilnehmerzahl: - | -
Veranstaltungsname: Fake News An Epistemology of Deception and What to Do about It
Veranstaltungsbeschreibung: Fake News has become an increasing and dangerous phenomenon in our time with disturbingly real consequences. Influencing elections, deepening the gap between opposed political currents in our already strongly polarized society or encouraging extremists to act on their beliefs are just some examples of how something fake can change the reality of everyday life. The seminar wants to approach the topic of fake news from an epistemological as well as practical viewpoint. In a first step, it aims to gain a proper understanding of the phenomenon by discussing different definitions and conceptions of truth, knowledge and facts and their mutual relationships. What kind of conditions have to be fulfilled in order to classify something as true? When can I justifiably claim to know something? And what are facts in the first place? In the second part we are going to shed some light on the underlying motivation behind fake news and its logic and process of dissemination. Why and by whom is fake news produced and spread? How does it work and how does our digitalized and globalized society facilitate the dissemination? Finally, by investigating the success conditions of fake news we will discuss different proposals (or come up with some own) of how to prevent the spreading of fake news or even how to defeat it. The literature of the course includes classical epistemological texts (e.g. Plato, Wittgenstein, Nagel) as well as current articles about the definition of fake news and/or the development of strategies of how to fight it (e.g. Rini, McIntyre, Jaster/Lanius). The seminar programme will be provided in the first session.
