CFP: Applied Epistemology in Times of Political Crisis

We are pleased to announce the fourth and final Applied Epistemology Project workshop, on the topic "Applied Epistemology in Times of Political Crisis," and to invite applications to serve as a respondent at the workshop. The workshop will be held on March 6-7, 2025, at UNC Chapel Hill, and will feature talks by by Alexander Coppock (Political Science, Northwestern), Karen Frost-Arnold (Philosophy, Hobart & William Smith), Megan Hyska (Philosophy, Northwestern), Rishi Joshi (Philosophy, Arizona), Jonathan Leader Maynard (Political Economy, Kings College London), Zeynep Pamuk (Politics, Oxford), Gordon Pennycook (Psychology, Cornell), and Emily Sydnor (Communication, Syracuse).

Those interested in serving as a respondent should email a short CV to [email protected] by Friday, October 31st. Please also indicate if you have a preference as to which speaker(s) you would most like to respond to. All respondents will have their workshop meals covered. Respondents who are graduate students or untenured scholars and who do not have access to personal research funds will also be eligible to have accommodation and travel expenses covered, up to a fixed maximum amount. Please indicate with your application whether you meet these criteria.

A description of the workshop topic follows below:

Many Western states are experiencing a range of forms of political crisis–democratic backsliding, distrust of and attacks on established institutions, the erosion of civic norms, and more. This conference will examine the epistemological dimensions of these political crises, in the broadest sense of ‘epistemology’, where it concerns work from a variety of fields concerning knowledge, belief-formation, evidence, and rationality. We will also reflect on what role applied epistemology itself might be able (or unable) to play in responding to these political crises.