What to Believe Now

What can we know and what should we believe about today’s world? <i>What to Believe Now: Applying Epistemology to Contemporary Issues</i> applies the concerns and techniques of epistemology to a wide variety of contemporary issues. Questions about what we can know-and what we <i>should</i> believe-are first addressed through an explicit consideration of the practicalities of working these issues out at the dawn of the twenty-first century. <p>Coady calls for an ‘applied turn’ in epistemology, a process he likens to the applied turn that transformed the study of ethics in the early 1970s. Subjects dealt with include:</p> <ul> <li>Experts-how can we recognize them? And when should we trust them? </li> <li>Rumors-should they <i>ever</i> be believed? And can they, in fact, be a source of knowledge? </li> <li>Conspiracy theories-when, if ever, should they be believed, and can they be known to be true? </li> <li>The blogosphere-how does it compare with traditional media as a source of knowledge and justified belief? </li> </ul> <p>Timely, thought provoking, and controversial, <i>What to Believe Now </i>offers a wealth of insights into a branch of philosophy of growing importance-and increasing relevance-in the twenty-first century.</p>