Library Science
Epistemology is the study of knowledge. Basically, epistemology is concerned with how it is that people know what they know. The focus of this course will be on social epistemology in particular.
Work in epistemology has typically focused on how individuals working alone acquire knowledge about the world. However, in the past few decades, philosophers have been looking at how people acquire knowledge in a social context. (In fact, a Regents Professor in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Arizona has just written a book on social epistemology - one chapter of which will be in the reading packet for this course.) For instance, social epistemology is concerned with how a person acquires knowledge from other people.
But why (you ask) should social epistemology be of interest to information professionals (and, in particular, to librarians)?
(One clue that it might be of interest is that the term, social epistemology, was first used by a library scientist. The legendary Jesse Shera, who used the term at least as early as 1952, credits Margaret Egan of the University of Chicago with coining the term.)
When someone goes to a library or surfs the Internet for information, more often than not s/he wants to acquire some knowledge (from other people). Information professionals should be trying to facilitate this acquisition of knowledge. For instance, librarians presumably want the patron to be better informed when s/he leaves the library than when s/he arrived. (In fact, this is arguably the sine qua non of libraries.)
The ultimate goal of studying social epistemology is to figure out how to achieve this goal. Social epistemology is not just concerned with describing how people acquire knowledge in a social context. It is primarily concerned with determining what social practices will best facilitate the acquisition of knowledge (see Alvin Goldman, "Knowledge in a Social World").
By the way, in order to focus on this question, social epistemology sets aside discussion of the ethical aspects of these practices. Many debates in library science (e.g., on filtering and labeling) are dominated by ethical concerns (e.g., worries about intellectual freedom). Very few people, however, bother to ask whether or not these practices help or hinder the acquisition of knowledge. Ethical issues (and economic issues, for that matter) certainly need to be considered before any social practice gets implemented. However, unless a practice is going to facilitate the acquisition of knowledge, any ethical concerns about it are really a moot point.
This course will have three components. First, we will look briefly at what is known about epistemology in general. Second, we will survey the major research projects in social epistemology. (Not everyone agrees on exactly what the goals and methodology of social epistemology should be.) Third, we will look at practices that the producers and disseminators of information are in a position to implement and we will try to determine how well these practices foster the acquisition of knowledge.
| Participation | 30% |
| Final Project | 30% |
| Midterm | 20% |
| Short Assignments | 20% |
Note: The schedule and readings for this course are subject to modification.
1. Library science and social epistemology
Why should information scientists be concerned with social epistemology? (As it happens, library scientists were among the first to enter into the study of social epistemology. It took philosophy, the home of epistemology, quite a while to widen its vision beyond individualistic epistemology.)
Readings:
2. Epistemology
Most of the philosophical literature on epistemology has been concerned with individualistic epistemology. (That is, it has been concerned with how individuals acting alone can acquire knowledge.) However, looking at samples of this literature serves to clarify exactly what is the proper goal of any sort of epistemological research.
Readings:
3. Types of social epistemology
Once we contrast social epistemology with individualistic epistemology, it turns out that there are a variety of different projects that fall into the domain of social epistemology. We need to determine what the various projects are and which will be most useful to the information scientist.
Readings:
4. Collective action and belief
A major concern of social epistemology is with how social processes play a role in the knowledge acquisition of individuals. However, another legitimate concern is with how groups (or collectives) themselves might have knowledge. What are collectives? How can collectives perform actions? How can collectives have beliefs? How can collectives be justified in their beliefs?
Readings:
5. Applying social epistemology to information science
Readings:
6. Filtering
Readings:
7. Collaboration in science
Readings:
8. Electronic journals
One of the most reliable sources of information at the library is the academic journal. In particular, traditional print journals seem to foster knowledge fairly well. However, electronic journals have some advantages over print journals in this respect. For instance, because electronic journals can be distributed so much faster than print journals, researchers can acquire knowledge from them that much faster. But what are the epistemic costs of electronic journals? And do they outweigh the benefits?
Readings:
FURTHER INFORMATION
This class will have a listserv: IRLS588@listserv.arizona.edu. Please subscribe (see Subscription Information for instructions).
LINKS
This document was last updated on September 11, 1998.