SERRC

Structure, Culture, and Norms: A Further Dialogue with Mangraviti, Colin R. Caret In “The Logician’s Responsibility: A Response to Caret” (2025), Franci Mangraviti takes me to task (Caret 2025) for underplaying logic’s contribution to epistemic injustice. My skepticism is said to be “stuck between underselling the role of logic education in making a difference, and misrepresenting contemporary logic culture”. In this note, I continue our discussion of these issues with a focus on explanation and mediation.

Structure, Culture, and Norms: A Further Dialogue with Mangraviti, Colin R. Caret

In “The Logician’s Responsibility: A Response to Caret” (2025), Franci Mangraviti takes me to task (Caret 2025) for underplaying logic’s contribution to epistemic injustice. My skepticism is said to be “stuck between…

If It’s Too Good to be True, It Ain’t: On Feminist Epistemology and a Historical Myth, Part II, Valeria Edelsztein and Claudio Cormick Section 4: … And Its Philosophical Uptake According to Natalie Ashton and Robin McKenna (2018), it is: [N]ow accepted that the peak in sexual activity during ovulation is explained by female rhesus monkeys initiating sex, but for a long time the research carried out overlooked this fact and instead focused on the behaviours and capacities of the male monkeys. / Kim Wallen […] says that the crucial turning point was in 1976—over 30 years after examples of female initiation were first recorded—when one of the “patriarchs” who had “dominated” the field published a paper distinguishing proceptivity (the active solicitation of sexual activity) from the more passive receptivity.

If It’s Too Good to be True, It Ain’t: On Feminist Epistemology and a Historical Myth, Part II, Valeria Edelsztein and Claudio Cormick

Section 4: … And Its Philosophical Uptake According to Natalie Ashton and Robin McKenna (2018), it is: [N]ow accepted that the peak in sexual activity during…

If It’s Too Good to be True, It Ain’t: On Feminist Epistemology and a Historical Myth, Valeria Edelsztein and Claudio Cormick

According to an account popularized by Kim Wallen (and, more importantly, according to the appropriation of this story by feminist epistemologists), it was only since 1976…

On Reasonable Cooperation and Vaccine Hesitancy Among Ethnically Marginalized Communities: A Reply to Kelsall and Sorell, Tarun Kattumana In “Two Kinds of Vaccine Hesitancy”, Joshua Kelsall and Tom Sorell (2025) consider whether it is reasonable to be vaccine hesitant. The paper discusses a number of key issues such as: (i) open questions about representativeness in vaccine trials; (ii) novel vaccines using the mRNA vaccine platform; (iii) questions raised by new variants of SARS-CoV-2 during the COVID-19 pandemic; and (iv) distrust of institutions offering vaccines on account of discriminatory practices.

On Reasonable Cooperation and Vaccine Hesitancy Among Ethnically Marginalized Communities: A Reply to Kelsall and Sorell, Tarun Kattumana

In “Two Kinds of Vaccine Hesitancy”, Joshua Kelsall and Tom Sorell (2025) consider whether it is reasonable to be vaccine hesitant. The paper discusses a number…

Will the Anti-Skeptic Ever Go Away? A Continuing Dialogue with Baumann, Benjamin W. McCraw I want to extend an additional and deeper thanks to Peter Baumann for the continued dialogue stemming from my paper. Baumann’s charitable, yet critical, continued discussion models what is best in the philosophical tradition. I hope my few thoughts in response can help continue it further. I will quickly mention and address a few points that strike me from Baumann’s response.

Will the Anti-Skeptic Ever Go Away? A Continuing Dialogue with Baumann, Benjamin W. McCraw

I want to extend an additional and deeper thanks to Peter Baumann for the continued dialogue stemming from my paper. Baumann’s charitable, yet critical, continued discussion models what is best in the…

Why Shouldn’t There be Reliable “Bullshit Machines”? A Response to Mizrahi on Artificial Epistemic Authorities, Rico Hauswald In a recent contribution to SERRC, Moti Mizrahi criticizes current attempts to make conceptual space for the idea of artificial epistemic authorities (AEAs), that is, large language models (LLMs) or other AI systems functioning as epistemic authorities (Mizrahi 2025). In particular, he takes issue with a recent article of mine (Hauswald 2025), in which I assess the arguments both for and against allowing the possibility of granting AI systems the status of AEAs.

Why Shouldn’t There be Reliable “Bullshit Machines”? A Response to Mizrahi on Artificial Epistemic Authorities, Rico Hauswald

In a recent contribution to SERRC, Moti Mizrahi criticizes current attempts to make conceptual space for the idea of artificial epistemic authorities (AEAs), that is, large…

SERRC Volume 15, Issue 12, 1–80, January 2026 Volume 15, Issue 1, 1–80, January 2026 ❧ Kukkonen, Karin. 2026. “A Response to Caracciolo’s Reply to ‘Designing an Expert Setting for Interdisciplinary Dialogue’.” Social Epistemology Review and Reply Collective 15 (1): 1–6. ❧ Shajahan, Muhammed Shah. 2026. “Thinking Dwelling with Heidegger and Asad: Existence, Authority, and the Problem of Home.” Social Epistemology Review and Reply Collective 15 (1): 7–14.

SERRC Volume 15, Issue 12, 1–80, January 2026

Volume 15, Issue 1, 1–80, January 2026 ❧ Kukkonen, Karin. 2026. “A Response to Caracciolo’s Reply to ‘Designing an Expert Setting for Interdisciplinary Dialogue’.” Social Epistemology Review and Reply Collective 15 (1): 1–6. ❧ Shajahan, Muhammed Shah.…

Measures of Epistemic Autonomy: Remarks on Beebe’s Scales, Heather Battaly James Beebe’s “The Pitfalls of Epistemic Autonomy without Intellectual Humility” (2024) asks whether intellectual humility can prevent epistemic autonomy from becoming an extreme form of intellectual individualism. More specifically, Beebe is interested in whether intellectual humility moderates the predicted pitfalls of excessive epistemic autonomy, which include increased susceptibility to conspiracy beliefs and decreased trust in scientists. Using a series of three studies, his paper aims to test whether people who are epistemically autonomous, but not intellectually humble, are more likely to believe conspiracy theories and less likely to trust scientists than people who are both epistemically autonomous and intellectually humble.

Measures of Epistemic Autonomy: Remarks on Beebe’s Scales, Heather Battaly

James Beebe’s “The Pitfalls of Epistemic Autonomy without Intellectual Humility” (2024) asks whether intellectual humility can prevent epistemic autonomy from becoming an extreme form of intellectual individualism. More…

Death as an Epistemological Foundation, Ilina Marinova Debates over brain death and organ donation are often framed as technical or ethical disputes. This article argues that something more fundamental is at stake. It examines death as a functional epistemic category that modern societies rely on to close accounts, order events in time, and terminate responsibility across institutions and individuals. By distinguishing between death as a boundary sufficient for learning and judgment, and death as a discrete, time-indexed zero-point required for large-scale coordination and planning, the article shows why contemporary controversies persist despite decades of definitional refinement.

Death as an Epistemological Foundation, Ilina Marinova

Debates over brain death and organ donation are often framed as technical or ethical disputes. This article argues that something more fundamental is at stake. It examines death as a functional epistemic category that modern societies rely on…

Gnostic Populism or What I Learned on X, Bernard N. Wills One of the most striking things about our contemporary culture (and its assumed ‘secularity) is the degree to which it recapitulates mythic and theological patterns long assumed lost and superseded.  This is especially true in the political realm where rival mythologies clash in the form of secular ideologies. One of these myths is the myth of universal emancipation. With Badiou we may credit St.

Gnostic Populism or What I Learned on X, Bernard N. Wills

One of the most striking things about our contemporary culture (and its assumed ‘secularity) is the degree to which it recapitulates mythic and theological patterns long assumed lost and superseded.  This is especially true in the political…

A “Parasitology” of Interdisciplinary Collaborations: Theorizing the Add-on Role of Social Sciences and Humanities, Judith Igelsböck Abstract Anita Välikangas’s analysis of a broad selection of interdisciplinary funding programs shows that the Social Sciences and Humanities’ (SSH) relegation to subordinate “add-on” roles with limited opportunities for epistemically oriented research in interdisciplinary projects, is already prefigured by funding structures. Beyond holding significant implications for research policy, this finding necessitates a critical reflection on the positionality of the Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) within STEM-dominated interdisciplinary collaborations.

A “Parasitology” of Interdisciplinary Collaborations: Theorizing the Add-on Role of Social Sciences and Humanities, Judith Igelsböck

Abstract Anita Välikangas’s analysis of a broad selection of interdisciplinary funding programs shows that the Social Sciences and Humanities’ (SSH) relegation to…

Understanding, Teaching, and Phenomenology in the Age of LLMs: Critical Reply to Malfatti’s “ChatGPT, Education, and Understanding”, Jacob Rump In “ChatGPT, Education, and Understanding” (2025), Federica Isabella Malfatti provides a thought-provoking account of what it would take for an Large Language Model (LLM) such as ChatGPT to count as a good teacher, insofar as teachers are fosterers of understanding, not just knowledge.[1] The essay is a welcome extension of the current focus on understanding in epistemology to technology contexts, and especially timely given the current concerning state of AI use in education.

Understanding, Teaching, and Phenomenology in the Age of LLMs: Critical Reply to Malfatti’s “ChatGPT, Education, and Understanding”, Jacob Rump

In “ChatGPT, Education, and Understanding” (2025), Federica Isabella Malfatti provides a thought-provoking account of what it would take for an Large…

What Are We to Do About Vicious Distrusters? A Reply to Carter and Meehan, Johnny Brennan The pursuit of knowledge can go wrong in many ways. It can go wrong when trying to gain knowledge through reasoning. We jump to conclusions, ignore disconfirming evidence, improperly interpret evidence, assume the very thing we are trying to prove, favor what is salient or most recent in our memory rather than what is representative. Call these errors of inquiry. The pursuit of knowledge can also go wrong when trying to identify who the trustworthy testifiers are who can impart knowledge to us.

What Are We to Do About Vicious Distrusters? A Reply to Carter and Meehan, Johnny Brennan

The pursuit of knowledge can go wrong in many ways. It can go wrong when trying to gain knowledge through reasoning. We jump to conclusions, ignore disconfirming evidence, improperly interpret evidence,…

Interstitial Justice and Erasure: A Response to Richardson, Ásta A lot of philosophical work in the last two decades has been at the intersection of theoretical and practical philosophy, especially concerning social aspects of epistemic, linguistic, or ontological phenomena. Although the literature on epistemic and discursive injustice is now quite extensive, it is only recently that philosophers have started to theorize forms of injustice that can be called “metaphysical”. These include phenomena such as ontic injustice (Jenkins 2023), ontic oppression (Dembroff 2018; 2020), ontic exclusion and erasure (Richardson 2023), and categorical and interstitial injustice (Ásta 2019; 2024).

Interstitial Justice and Erasure: A Response to Richardson, Ásta

A lot of philosophical work in the last two decades has been at the intersection of theoretical and practical philosophy, especially concerning social aspects of epistemic, linguistic, or ontological phenomena. Although the…

Restricting AI to Its Proper Sphere: A Response to Blok, Jonas Hallström In his fine and philosophically well-argued article “Economics and Politics in the Age of AI” (2025), Vincent Blok asserts that the “technological advancements in digital technologies like AI raise societal concerns about the instrumentalization and datafication of human life” and subsequently that specifically artificial intelligence (AI) leads to “instrumentalization, commodification and datafication of all domains of human life” (1–2). In Blok’s view, it is the notion of an…

Restricting AI to Its Proper Sphere: A Response to Blok, Jonas Hallström

In his fine and philosophically well-argued article “Economics and Politics in the Age of AI” (2025), Vincent Blok asserts that the “technological advancements in digital technologies like AI raise societal concerns about the…

Thinking Dwelling with Heidegger and Asad: Existence, Authority, and the Problem of Home, Muhammed Shah Shajahan Muhammed Nishad’s reflections on Martin Heidegger’s notion of dwelling (wohnen) to interpret the social and political significance of Mosques in the South Indian region of Malabar open an occasion to think about existence and tradition more broadly and in an interconnected manner.[1] As I am neither an expert on Heidegger, nor do I claim a ground in the political and philosophical stakes of engaging him,

Thinking Dwelling with Heidegger and Asad: Existence, Authority, and the Problem of Home, Muhammed Shah Shajahan

Muhammed Nishad’s reflections on Martin Heidegger’s notion of dwelling (wohnen) to interpret the social and political significance of Mosques in the South Indian region of Malabar open…

A Response to Caracciolo’s Reply to “Designing an Expert Setting for Interdisciplinary Dialogue”, Karin Kukkonen, My proposal in the initial article (2024) was that literary texts and the expertise of literary scholars have an important role to play in developing new means for exchange and dialogue across disciplines. Put into practice in the salon format, the literary texts that all participants have read support the discussion by providing epistemic common ground and by maintaining the flexibility of a “boundary object” that allows for multiple interpretations, while the expertise of literary scholars in picking up on formal features of the literary texts themselves, serves to structure the metacognitive dimension of the discussion.

A Response to Caracciolo’s Reply to “Designing an Expert Setting for Interdisciplinary Dialogue”, Karin Kukkonen,

My proposal in the initial article (2024) was that literary texts and the expertise of literary scholars have an important role to play in developing new means for exchange and…

SERRC: Of Note, 2025 My sincerest thanks to the SERRC’s contributors in 2025. Your work cultivated the reception of select articles published in Social Epistemology and Techné and produced insights about ongoing dialogues and projects. I am particularly grateful for the continuing engagement of all our contributors and our readers. … . Highlighted Resources: ❦ SERRC: Of Note, 2024. ❦ SERRC: Of Note, 2023…

SERRC: Of Note, 2025

My sincerest thanks to the SERRC’s contributors in 2025. Your work cultivated the reception of select articles published in Social Epistemology and Techné and produced insights about ongoing dialogues and projects. I am particularly grateful for the continuing engagement of…

SERRC: Volume 14, Issue 12, 1–71, December 2025 Volume 14, Issue 12, 1–71, December 2025 ❧ Basham, Lee. 2025. “Response to Napolitano and Harris on Epistemic Authority.” Social Epistemology Review and Reply Collective 14 (12): 1–10. ❧ Tuckwell, William. 2025. “A Comment on Anderson’s ‘Virtuous Virtue Signaling, Morally Good Grandstanding’.” Social Epistemology Review and Reply Collective 14 (12): 11–15. ❧ Yang, Yang. 2025. “Knowledge Socialism and/or Capitalism in the Context of AI and Knowledge Governance in China and the West: An Interview with Steve Fuller.”

SERRC: Volume 14, Issue 12, 1–71, December 2025

Volume 14, Issue 12, 1–71, December 2025 ❧ Basham, Lee. 2025. “Response to Napolitano and Harris on Epistemic Authority.” Social Epistemology Review and Reply Collective 14 (12): 1–10. ❧ Tuckwell, William. 2025. “A Comment on Anderson’s ‘Virtuous…

Epistemic Agency Is Enhancing Your Power to Know: A Reply to Coeckelbergh, Gärtner, Steup and Xu, Adam Riggio

A massively important concern for our time, at the moment, is the question of epistemic agency, how we can develop it, and how we can protect it from pernicious forces and influences that…

Twenty Years After Kitzmiller: Towards a Different Science-Religion Relationship, Steve Fuller On 20 December 2005, Judge John Jones decided in favour of the plaintiffs in Kitzmiller et al v Dover Area School District at the Mid-Pennsylvania US District Court in Harrisburg. I testified as an expert witness for the defence during the trial, which received worldwide attention. Indeed, by the time I returned to the UK after my court appearance, a report had appeared on page three of the…

Twenty Years After Kitzmiller: Towards a Different Science-Religion Relationship, Steve Fuller

On 20 December 2005, Judge John Jones decided in favour of the plaintiffs in Kitzmiller et al v Dover Area School District at the Mid-Pennsylvania US District Court in Harrisburg. I testified as an…

Why Should We Read Old Books in the Time of LLMs? (And, No, Not Because Using LLMs is Cheating), Ljiljana Radenovic Recently on X (formerly Twitter), an account that promotes various uses of LLMs (Large Language Models) to their academic followers posted a thread on how to write 4,000 words of one’s PhD thesis in one day. The instructions were fairly detailed. Unfortunately, this particular thread is now gone, but other threads are still available, so let us briefly take a look at a similar one (on the use of Discourse Graphs) to get a sense of the kind of advice this account offers ...

Why Should We Read Old Books in the Time of LLMs? (And, No, Not Because Using LLMs is Cheating), Ljiljana Radenovic

Recently on X (formerly Twitter), an account that promotes various uses of LLMs (Large Language Models) to their academic followers posted a thread on how to write 4,000 words of…

“Hope Does Not Put Us to Shame”: A Final Anti-Skeptical Reply to Tőzsér, Bálint Békefi In my review (2024) of János Tőzsér’s monograph The Failure of Philosophical Knowledge (2023), I developed three main lines of criticism, which I then defended (2025) against his response (2025a). In his latest reply, Tőzsér (2025b) zeroes in on my first criticism, which concerns “the book’s lack of discussion of important supporting arguments behind positions it rejects” (59), and seeks to address my “main objections to argument in favor of skepticism and the general anti-skeptical vision that emerges from them” (29).

“Hope Does Not Put Us to Shame”: A Final Anti-Skeptical Reply to Tőzsér, Bálint Békefi

In my review (2024) of János Tőzsér’s monograph The Failure of Philosophical Knowledge (2023), I developed three main lines of criticism, which I then defended (2025) against his response (2025a). In his latest…

Four Questions about Expertise and Epistemic Authority, Jonghyeon Kim and Nathan Ballantyne Intuitively, it is rational for laypeople to defer to experts’ testimony, even when the laypeople’s prior beliefs are in tension with expert opinion. After all, experts are, by definition, a more reliable source of beliefs about their areas of expertise than laypeople. And so, in order to benefit from a particular expert’s epistemic superiority, a layperson has good reason to regard that expert as an epistemic authority.

Four Questions about Expertise and Epistemic Authority, Jonghyeon Kim and Nathan Ballantyne

Intuitively, it is rational for laypeople to defer to experts’ testimony, even when the laypeople’s prior beliefs are in tension with expert opinion. After all, experts are, by definition, a more reliable…

Philosophy for Daleks: Nick Bostrom’s Shallow Utopia, Dylan Evans I’ve studied now Philosophy And Jurisprudence, Medicine,— And even, alas! Theology,— From end to end, with labor keen; And here, poor fool! with all my lore I stand, no wiser than before. — Goethe, Faust Part I If Nick Bostrom’s best-known book, Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies (2014), was a science fiction version of Dante’s Inferno, his most recent offering,

Philosophy for Daleks: Nick Bostrom’s Shallow Utopia, Dylan Evans

I’ve studied now Philosophy And Jurisprudence, Medicine,— And even, alas! Theology,— From end to end, with labor keen; And here, poor fool! with all my lore I stand, no wiser than before. — Goethe, Faust Part I If Nick Bostrom’s…

Yes, Save the Children from Fake AI “Friends”, Jeremy Weissman It is common to equate technological innovation with socio-political progress. In many ways this is not an unreasonable reaction. Afterall, what moves forward the course of history and our socio-political arrangements more than changes to technology and our material condition? Indeed, social conservativism, and its holding to past tradition, has at times resulted in prohibiting new technologies, such as birth control, that threaten to upend such traditions.

Yes, Save the Children from Fake AI “Friends”, Jeremy Weissman

It is common to equate technological innovation with socio-political progress. In many ways this is not an unreasonable reaction. Afterall, what moves forward the course of history and our socio-political arrangements more than changes…

Calculated Belief: On Bayesian Reason and the Ethics of Judgment, Boecyàn Bourgade We live in a world overflowing with predictions; from recommendation algorithms to risk scores that tell judges, doctors, and even dating apps what to expect next. Behind many of these systems sits a quiet mathematical idea: Bayesian reasoning. But what happens when this “calculus of belief” becomes the structure of everyday judgment? … . Article Citation: Bourgade, Boecyàn. 2025. “Calculated Belief: On Bayesian Reason and the Ethics of Judgment.” …

Calculated Belief: On Bayesian Reason and the Ethics of Judgment, Boecyàn Bourgade

We live in a world overflowing with predictions; from recommendation algorithms to risk scores that tell judges, doctors, and even dating apps what to expect next. Behind many of these systems sits a quiet…

Knowledge Socialism and/or Capitalism in the Context of AI and Knowledge Governance in China and the West: An Interview with Steve Fuller, Yang Yang This interview with Professor Steve Fuller continues a dialogue that began in two earlier conversations—"Knowledge Socialism and/or Capitalism? An Interview with Michael A. Peters” and “Knowledge Socialism and/or Capitalism? An Interview with Steve Fuller.” These exchanges sought to explore the theoretical tension and potential convergence between knowledge socialism and knowledge capitalism, two paradigms that frame contemporary debates on the political economy of knowledge.

Knowledge Socialism and/or Capitalism in the Context of AI and Knowledge Governance in China and the West: An Interview with Steve Fuller, Yang Yang

This interview with Professor Steve Fuller continues a dialogue that began in two earlier conversations—"Knowledge Socialism and/or Capitalism? An…

A Comment on Anderson’s “Virtuous Virtue Signaling, Morally Good Grandstanding”, William Tuckwell To virtue signal is to say or do things in order to enhance or preserve one’s moral reputation (Tosi and Warmke 2020, 14–23).[1] Justin Tosi and Brandon Warmke (2016; 2020) argue that because of its bad consequences, there is a strong moral presumption against virtue signalling. In Tuckwell (2024). I noted that virtue signalling can also have significant good consequences.

A Comment on Anderson’s “Virtuous Virtue Signaling, Morally Good Grandstanding”, William Tuckwell

To virtue signal is to say or do things in order to enhance or preserve one’s moral reputation (Tosi and Warmke 2020, 14–23).[1] Justin Tosi and Brandon Warmke (2016; 2020) argue that because of its…

Response to Napolitano and Harris on Epistemic Authority, Lee Basham “Show Me”—a slogan commonly associated with the state of Missouri, US. There is a third perspective on conspiracy theory and epistemic authority that might be helpful in any discussion of epistemic authority.[1] One skeptical of “epistemic authority” as pivotal in politics and particularly, any discussion of conspiracy and its theory. The very notion of epistemic authority in affairs of society is not just alien to democracy as foundational, it is so easily abused it is dangerous, as dangerous as any theocracy or other…

Response to Napolitano and Harris on Epistemic Authority, Lee Basham

“Show Me”—a slogan commonly associated with the state of Missouri, US. There is a third perspective on conspiracy theory and epistemic authority that might be helpful in any discussion of epistemic authority.[1] One skeptical of…