This past weekend I had the good fortune to be able to attend the Second Conference on Emergent Order and Society held in Portsmouth, NH. The term “conference” doesn’t really characterise the format – it is more akin to a colloquium where the emphasis is on genuine discussion and conversation in an intimate group (18 in all)…
I don’t often plug workshops or conferences but here is one that appeals to my interest in social epistemology and computational intelligence. ************************** Workshop on Computer Simulations in Social Epistemology, Leuven, October 30-31 Centre for Logic and Analytical Philosophy The Workshop will be held in Seminar Room 2.41, Van Der Heuvelinstituut, 2nd floor (just to…
Alvin Goldman, the doyen of analytic social epistemology, has a draft paper posted on his website entitled “The Social Epistemology of Blogging.” What’s gratifying to me is that via Richard Posner (whom Goldman cites), Hayek, who I have argued is the social epistemologist par excellence, makes an appearance. I have recently argued that if Hayek was centrally…
As usual, Dan Little has posted some thoughtful reflections on the multifarious tributaries that feed into the complex that is social identity. It brings to mind a recent correspondence I had with someone who was adamant that I call them by their “new” name (legally changed by deed poll), someone who I happened to know under their birth…
In today’s Guardian there is an article entitled Who do you think I am? with the tag line “It’s all too easy to categorise people but it isn’t inevitable. We can still consider the alternatives.” The writer is quite correct so say that: Identity is a contemporary buzzword and goes onto list instances of its…
I received a message from Rob Wilson one of the most talented and broad-ranging philosopher-scientists around. He was updating me on what he’s been up to of late. He brought two things to my attention. 1. Rob has begun drafting the third instalment to his trilogy which he’s entitled Blood is Thicker than Water, nicht wahr? Terra Socialis: The Individual…
This review article/interview plugging a book by Neil Gross that deals with Richard Rorty’s intellectual journey is noteworthy because the writer of this book refers to the sociology of ideas (SI) as superseding the sociology of knowledge (SK): The old sociology of knowledge may have been terribly reductive — ideas are an expression of class interests…
Thanks to Simon Garnier I discovered this wonderful website dedicated to representations of complexity. As a social epistemologist I have a particular interest in knowledge networks and social networks. The images that draw upon biology for inspiration are particular compelling – on aesthetic grounds alone. complexity
To promote Edinburgh University Press’s new content management system, the Press is offering free access to EPISTEME until the end of March. See here.
Blaise Cronin’s comments that the term social epistemology has provenance going back to the 1950s library science is absolutely correct. The point that needs to be made, however, is that this “in vogue” term does not denote a unified tradition. Given the rather amorphous and diffuse nature of social epistemology its domain, approach, structure and value are highly…
manwithoutqualities 