Robin McKenna

Robin McKenna, Sophistry on Steroids? The Ethics, Epistemology and Politics of Persuasive AI - PhilPapers This paper examines the ethical, epistemological, and political implications of persuasive AI technologies. Recent research suggests that AI is roughly as persuasive as humans in many contexts. Should...

We have nothing to worry about from AI's hyper-persuasiveness...as long as we're truly masters of our own beliefs, the claims of social epistemology are wrong, and we can fully understand how & why models are influencing us. In other words, it's an issue. Great new @rbnmckenna.bsky.social article.

Academic spam from a "publication coach" at "Editage" with the subject line: "worried about standing out this conference season?"

constantly

Just got an email from a scam academic journal asking if I wanted to "explore new advances in White Psychodrama" and it's just got me like: buddy, I can watch the news myself.

Sophistry on steroids? The ethics, epistemology and politics of persuasive AI - AI & SOCIETY This paper examines the ethical, epistemological, and political implications of persuasive AI technologies. Recent research suggests that AI is roughly as persuasive as humans in many contexts. Should...

Available open access: a new paper arguing that, even though persuasive AI technologies won't destroy the world, we should be worried about them.

doi.org/10.1007/s001...

Robin McKenna & Christopher Ranalli, Skepticism and Conservatism - PhilPapers In his excellent new book Epistemic Courage Jonathan Ichikawa argues that epistemology evinces a bias towards the skeptical. In its most extreme forms (i.e. radical skepticism), this leads to complete...

New paper w/Chris Ranalli explaining why I don't think there need be a close connection between skepticism and political conservatism. It's a critical discussion of a new book, Jonathan Ichikawa's Epistemic Courage, but we sketch our favored form of skepticism at the end.
philpapers.org/rec/MCKSAC-4

Robin McKenna, Sophistry on Steroids? The Ethics, Epistemology and Politics of Persuasive AI - PhilPapers This paper examines the ethical, epistemological, and political implications of persuasive AI technologies. Recent research suggests that AI is roughly as persuasive as humans in many contexts. Should...

New paper in AI & Society on why we should be worried about persuasive AI technologies even if you are, like me, sceptical that we are about to enter a world of AI "hyper-persuasion".

philpapers.org/rec/MCKSOS-2

Robin McKenna, Sophistry on Steroids? The Ethics, Epistemology and Politics of Persuasive AI - PhilPapers This paper examines the ethical, epistemological, and political implications of persuasive AI technologies. Recent research suggests that AI is roughly as persuasive as humans in many contexts. Should...

New paper in AI & Society on why we should be worried about persuasive AI technologies even if you are, like me, sceptical that we are about to enter a world of AI "hyper-persuasion".

philpapers.org/rec/MCKSOS-2

the latter, or so he claims

it's a common mistake but actually Dr Frankenstein was the monster

Against Selective Cynicism It won’t surprise readers of this Substack to learn that I am, at heart, a cynic and a pessimist.

Short Substack post where I explain why selective cynicism--something you see quite often on the social media feeds of heterodox academics--really annoys me.

open.substack.com/pub/rbnmcken...

The Manufacture of Subjects A Review of Cory Wimberly's How Propaganda Became Public Relations

New Substack post where I talk some more about my current obsession: propaganda. This is a review of a book that I very strongly recommend, Cory Wimberly's How Propaganda Became Public Relations: Foucault and the Corporate Governance of the Public.

open.substack.com/pub/rbnmcken...

Thanks to @aidanmcglynn.bsky.social @ale1808.bsky.social @oldjerryfodor.bsky.social @neillevy.bsky.social @tays95.bsky.social @msimion.bsky.social as well as Heather Battaly, Ian James Kidd, Marie van Loon, Anne Meylan, Veli Mitova, and to my co-editor Gerry Dunne.

Robin McKenna & Gerry Dunne, Ideal and Non-Ideal Theory in Epistemology - PhilPapers This is the editors' introduction to a special issue on Ideal and Non-Ideal Theory in Epistemology in the International Journal of Philosophical Studies.

The International Journal of Philosophical Studies were kind enough to do a special issue on my book (really a hybrid: articles on ideal and non-ideal epistemology plus some critical commentaries). Thanks to everyone who contributed for making it a fantastic collection.

philpapers.org/rec/MCKIAN

Don't mind Robin, his book is great, and we (Nastja, Nora, and I) wouldn't have been able to make these criticisms without Robin's groundwork!

Non-ideal enough? In recent years, the traditional outlook and methods of analytic epistemology with its thought experiments, Gettierology and definition-mongering have beco

Good criticisms of my book on Non-Ideal Epistemology in this critical notice in Analysis. I've come to agree with a lot of the criticisms in here, so if someone wants to write a better book that does all these things please do.

academic.oup.com/analysis/adv...

Thanks for writing it. I don't know if you saw, but Dan and I both did book reviews for the Australasian Journal of Philosophy. We agree (I think) that there is less disagreement between us than you might expect.

Catharine Saint-Croix, Greco (2023) _Idealization in Epistemology_ and McKenna (2023) _Non-Ideal Epistemology_ - PhilPapers Epistemology is rife with idealization. And, although concern about particular idealizations—logical omniscience, infinite iterations of common knowledge, and so on—is long-standing, systematic metaep...

Haven't had a chance to read this double review-essay from @catsaintcroix.bsky.social on Greco and @rbnmckenna.bsky.social's books on idealisation in epistemology yet, but it looks really interesting

thanks! from a brief glance it looks like it might work well.

thanks this is *incredibly* useful

thanks! anything else that you have found works? This is for an MA seminar but experience teaches that you can't assume much prior knowledge.

I'm teaching a class on Philosophy and Social Change in september. It will look at different theories of and responses to social change: conservative, liberal, radical. But I'm really struggling for readings that are (a) accessible (b) high quality. Any suggestions?

I don't UCU post much now but I'll do one about pay for a sec, as IMV we're headed towards a predictable fail state unless people get realistic, and quick.

1. the UCEA pay offer is comically bad
2. Going out in fall on "pay" is a terrible idea
3. Go out on saving jobs and saving the sector instead

What Is Wrong with Epistemic Trespassing? Epistemic Trespassing and the Division of Cognitive Labour

I wrote about epistemic trespassing and why it is bad for my Substack. Tl;dr: it is tempting to talk about it as a moral failing but I think it is often more helpful to view trespassing behaviour as a rational response to bad incentives.

rbnmckenna86.substack.com/p/what-is-wr...

Zamyatin's We

2025 Reading What I've read, what I've liked, what I would recommend

A combination of things I have read for fun and read for work this year so far (ok some of the work ones were also fun).

open.substack.com/pub/rbnmcken...

I often find it hard to explain at parties what I do; I really like Robin McKenna’s elaboration here of what epistemologists do. Moral epistemology seems to open a whole other bag of worms at parties, though.

My friend and colleague Remco Heesen once told me study of social epistemology of science made him "less trusting of any particular scientific paper but more impressed by science as a whole." I honestly think that's the right lesson to draw. But I think holding both attitudes doesn't come naturally.

This is so stupid I think I am at risk of a seizure thinking about it.

Boo Ya, Says The Epistemological Philosopher Robin McKenna on Why He Crushes It at Parties

Me on what epistemology is, what I do, and why I'm not very much fun at parties.

[Note: I did not choose the picture or headline]

open.substack.com/pub/therepub...