Watching People Watching People: Culture, Prestige, and Epistemic Authority. (3rd September 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Lassiter, Charles
• Is Part Of: Social epistemology. Volume 36:Number 5(2022)
• Page Start: 601
• Page End: 612
• Publication Date: 2022-09-03
• Subjects: Epistemic authority -- experts -- cultural psychology -- trust; Social epistemology -- Periodicals; 121
• DOI: 10.1080/02691728.2022.2114113
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0269-1728

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Novices sometimes misidentify authorities and end up endorsing false beliefs as a result. In this paper, I suggest that this phenomenon is at least sometimes the result of culturally evolved mechanisms functioning in faulty epistemic contexts. I identify three background conditions which, when satisfied, enable expert-identifying mechanisms to function properly. When any one of them fails, that increases the likelihood of identifying a non-authority as authoritative. Consequently, novices can end up deferring to merely apparent authorities without having failed in any epistemic obligations.