Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-q99xh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-03T13:01:06.511Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

ECHO CHAMBERS AND EPISTEMIC BUBBLES

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 September 2018

C. Thi Nguyen Open the ORCID record for C. Thi Nguyen [Opens in a new window]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Discussion of the phenomena of post-truth and fake news often implicates the closed epistemic networks of social media. The recent conversation has, however, blurred two distinct social epistemic phenomena. An epistemic bubble is a social epistemic structure in which other relevant voices have been left out, perhaps accidentally. An echo chamber is a social epistemic structure from which other relevant voices have been actively excluded and discredited. Members of epistemic bubbles lack exposure to relevant information and arguments. Members of echo chambers, on the other hand, have been brought to systematically distrust all outside sources. In epistemic bubbles, other voices are not heard; in echo chambers, other voices are actively undermined. It is crucial to keep these phenomena distinct. First, echo chambers can explain the post-truth phenomena in a way that epistemic bubbles cannot. Second, each type of structure requires a distinct intervention. Mere exposure to evidence can shatter an epistemic bubble, but may actually reinforce an echo chamber. Finally, echo chambers are much harder to escape. Once in their grip, an agent may act with epistemic virtue, but social context will pervert those actions. Escape from an echo chamber may require a radical rebooting of one's belief system.

Type
Articles
Information
Episteme , Volume 17 , Issue 2 , June 2020 , pp. 141 - 161
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alcoff, L. M. 2007. ‘Epistemologies of Ignorance: Three Types.’ In Sullivan, S. and Tuana, N. (eds), Race and Epistemologies of Ignorance. Albany, NY: SUNY Press.Google Scholar
An, J., Quercia, D. and Crowcroft, J. 2014. ‘Partisan Sharing: Facebook Evidence and Societal Consequences.’ In Proceedings of the Second ACM Conference on Online Social Networks. http://cosn.acm.org/2014/files/cosn033f-anAembTS.pdf.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baumgaertner, B. 2014. ‘Yes, No, Maybe So: A Veritistic Approach to Echo Chambers Using a Trichotomous Belief Model.’ Synthese, 191(11): 2549–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Begby, E. 2013. ‘The Epistemology of Prejudice.’ Thought: A Journal of Philosophy, 2(2): 90–9.Google Scholar
Begby, E. 2017. ‘Evidential Pre-emption.’ Presented at the American Philosophical Association Pacific Division 2017 Meeting.Google Scholar
Bishop, B. 2009. The Big Sort: Why the Clustering of Like-minded America is Tearing Us Apart. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.Google Scholar
Burge, T. 1993. ‘Content Preservation.’ Philosophical Review, 102(4): 457–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cassam, Q. 2016. ‘Vice Epistemology.’ The Monist, 99(2): 159.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coady, D. 2006. ‘When Experts Disagree.’ Episteme, 3(1–2): 68–79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coady, D. 2012. What to Believe Now. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell.Google Scholar
Coates, D. D. 2010. ‘Post-involvement Difficulties Experienced by Former Members of Charismatic Groups.’ Journal of Religious Health, 49: 296–310.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Corner, A., Whitmarsh, L. and Xenias, D. 2012. ‘Uncertainty, Scepticism and Attitudes Towards Climate Change: Biased Assimilation and Attitude Polarisation.’ Climatic Change, 114(3–4): 463–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dentith, M. R. X. 2015. ‘When Inferring to a Conspiracy Theory Might be the Best Explanation.’ Social Epistemology, 16: 572–91.Google Scholar
Dentith, M. R. X. 2017. ‘The Problem of Conspiricism.’ Argumenta, 5: 1–16.Google Scholar
Descartes, R. 1984. The Philosophical Writings of Descartes, Vol. 2. Translated by Cottingham, J., Stoothoff, R. and Murdoch, D.. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
El-Bermawy, M. 2016. ‘Your Filter Bubble is Destroying Democracy.’ https://www.wired.com/2016/11/filter-bubble-destroying-democracy/.Google Scholar
Faulkner, P. 2000. ‘The Social Character of Testimonial Knowledge.’ Journal of Philosophy, 97(11): 581–601.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Flaxman, S., Goel, S. and Rao, J. M. 2016. ‘Filter Bubbles, Echo Chambers, and Online News Consumption.’ Public Opinion Quarterly, 80: 298–320.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fricker, M. 2011. ‘Rational Authority and Social Power: Towards a Truly Social Epistemology.’ In Goldman, A. (ed.), Social Epistemology – Essential Readings, pp. 54–70. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Gilbert, E., Bergstrom, T. and Karahalios, K. 2009. ‘Blogs are Echo Chambers: Blogs are Echo Chambers.’ In 42nd Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences. doi: 10.1109/HICSS.2009.91CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goldberg, S. 2010. Relying on Others: An Essay in Epistemology. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goldberg, S. 2011. ‘If That Were True I Would Have Heard About It By Now.’ In The Oxford Handbook of Social Epistemology, pp. 92–108. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Goldberg, S. 2013. ‘Epistemic Dependence in Testimonial Belief, in the Classroom and Beyond.’ Journal of Philosophy of Education, 47(2): 168–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goldman, A. I. 2001. ‘Experts: Which Ones Should You Trust?’ Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, 63: 85–110.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hardwig, J. 1985. ‘Epistemic Dependence.’ Journal of Philosophy, 82(7): 335–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hardwig, J. 1991. ‘The Role of Trust in Knowledge.’ Journal of Philosophy, 88(12): 693–708.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jamieson, K. H. and Cappella, J. N. 2008. Echo Chamber: Rush Limbaugh and the Conservative Media Establishment. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Kahan, D. M. and Braman, D. 2006. ‘Cultural Cognition and Public Policy.’ Yale Law & Policy Review, 24: 149–72.Google Scholar
Kelly, T. 2008. ‘Disagreement, Dogmatism, and Belief Polarization.’ Journal of Philosophy, 105(10): 611–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kitcher, P. 1993. The Advancement of Science. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Lackey, J. 2013. ‘Disagreement and Belief Dependence: Why Numbers Matter.’ In Lackey, J. and Christensen, D. (eds), The Epistemology of Disagreement: New Essays, pp. 243–68. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Langone, M. D. 1994. ‘Reflections on Post-Cult Recovery.’ http://www.icsahome.com/articles/reflections-on-post-cult-recovery-langone.Google Scholar
Lifton, R. 1991. ‘Cult Formation.’ Cultic Studies Journal, 8: 1–6.Google Scholar
Mengus, B. 2016. ‘Pizzagaters Aren't Giving This Shit Up.’ Gizmodo. http://gizmodo.com/pizzagaters-arent-giving-this-shit-up-1789692422.Google Scholar
Miller, B. and Record, I. 2013. ‘Justified Belief in a Digital Age: On the Epistemic Implications of Secret Internet Technologies.’ Episteme, 10(2): 117–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Millgram, E. 2015. The Great Endarkenment: Philosophy for An Age of Hyperspecialization. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Mills, C. 2007. ‘White Ignorance.’ In Race and Epistemologies of Ignorance, pp. 11–38. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.Google Scholar
Nelson, J. L. and Webster, J. G. 2017. ‘The Myth of Partisan Selective Exposure: A Portrait of the Online Political News Audience.’ Social Media + Society, July–September: 1–13.Google Scholar
Nguyen, C. T. 2010. ‘Autonomy, Understanding, and Moral Disagreement.’ Philosophical Topics, 38(2): 111–129.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nguyen, C. Thi. 2011. ‘An Ethics of Uncertainty: Moral Disagreement and Moral Humility.’ PhD dissertation. University of California at Los Angeles. Retrieved from ProQuest Dissertations and Theses database (UMI No. 3532448).Google Scholar
Nguyen, C. Thi. 2018a. ‘Cognitive Islands and Runaway Echo Chambers: Problems for Expert Dependence.’ Synthese. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11229-018-1692-0.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nguyen, C. Thi. 2018b. ‘Escape the Echo Chamber.’ Aeon Magazine. https://aeon.co/essays/why-its-as-hard-to-escape-an-echo-chamber-as-it-is-to-flee-a-cult.Google Scholar
Nguyen, C. Thi. 2018c. ‘Expertise and the Fragmentation of Intellectual Autonomy.’ Philosophical Inquiries, 6(2): 107–24.Google Scholar
Orwell, G. 1968. ‘Politics and the English Language.’ In Orwell, S. and Angos, I. (eds), The Collected Essays, Journalism, and Letters of George Orwell, Vol. 4, 1st edition, pp. 121–46. New York, NY: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich.Google Scholar
Pariser, E. 2011. The Filter Bubble: What the Internet Is Hiding From You. London: Penguin UK.Google Scholar
Pollak, J. 2017. ‘#FakeNews: Mainstream Media Continue to Slander Breitbart.’ Breitbart, 30 January. http://www.breitbart.com/big-journalism/2017/01/30/fakenews-mainstream-media-continue-slander-breitbart/.Google Scholar
Robbins, T. and Anthony, D. 1982. ‘Deprogramming, Brainwashing and the Medicalization of Deviant Religious Groups.’ Social Problems, 29(3): 283–97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Robson, J. 2014. ‘A Social Epistemology of Aesthetics: Belief Polarization, Echo Chambers and Aesthetic Judgement.’ Synthese, 191(11): 2513–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Saez-Trumper, D., Castillo, C. and Lalmas, M. 2013. ‘Social Media News Communities: Gatekeeping, Coverage, and Statement Bias.’ In Proceedings of the 22nd ACM International Conference on Information & Knowledge Management. https://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=2505623.Google Scholar
Saslow, E. 2016. ‘The White Flight of Derek Black.’ The Washington Post, 15 October. https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/the-white-flight-of-derek-black/2016/10/15/ed5f906a-8f3b-11e6-a6a3-d50061aa9fae_story.html?utm_term=.67f00ca25ce9.Google Scholar
Singer, M. T. 1979. ‘Coming Out of the Cults.’ Psychology Today, 12(8): 72–82.Google Scholar
Smart, P. R. 2017. ‘Mandevillian Intelligence.’ Synthese. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11229-017-1414-z.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sunstein, C. R. 2001. Republic.com. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Sunstein, C. R. 2009a. Going to Extremes: How Like Minds Unite and Divide. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Sunstein, C. R. 2009b. Republic.com 2.0. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Trouche, E., Johansson, P., Hall, L. and Mercier, H. 2016. ‘The Selective Laziness of Reasoning.’ Cognitive Science, 40(8): 2122–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vogt, P. J. and Goldman, A. 2016. ‘Voyage Into Pizzagate.’ https://gimletmedia.com/episode/83-voyage-into-pizzagate/.Google Scholar
Watson, J. C. 2015. ‘Filter Bubbles and the Public Use of Reason: Applying Epistemology to the Newsfeed.’ In Scalambrino, F. (ed.), Social Epistemology and Technology: Toward Public Self-Awareness Regarding Technological Mediation, pp. 47–58. London: Rowman & Littlefield.Google Scholar
Weathers, C. 2014. ‘CrossFit Is a Cult: Why So Many of Its Defenders Are So Defensive.’ Salon. https://www.salon.com/2014/10/22/crossfit_is_a_cult_why_so_many_of_its_defenders_are_so_defensive_partner/.Google Scholar
Wittgenstein, L. 2010. Philosophical Investigations. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.Google Scholar
Zagzebski, L. 2012. Epistemic Authority. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar