Description -- Schedule
-- Requirements -- Readings
Applies various theories of knowledge to information science. Emphasis on identifying practices that information services such as libraries can adopt to facilitate the acquisition of knowledge.
MORE INFORMATION
Epistemology is the study of knowledge. Basically, epistemology is concerned with how it is that people know what they know. Work in epistemology has typically focused on how individuals working alone acquire knowledge about the world. However, in the past few decades, researchers have been looking at how people acquire knowledge in a social context. Social epistemology is concerned, for example, with how a person acquires knowledge from other people. But why should social epistemology be of interest to information professionals?
Note: One clue that it might be of interest is that the term social epistemology was first used by two library scientists: Jesse Shera and Margaret Egan of the Graduate Library School at the University of Chicago.
When someone goes to a library or surfs the Internet for information, s/he typically wants to acquire some knowledge. Information professionals try to facilitate this acquisition of knowledge. Librarians 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.) Social epistemology is concerned with how we can go about acheiving this goal. In other words, it is concerned with identifying those practices that best facilitate the acquisition of knowledge (see, e.g., Goldman 1999 and Shera 1961).
In the first part of this course, we will survey some of the current theoretical work in social epistemology. Next, we will look at several practical applications of social epistemology to information science (e.g., in the areas of collection management, reference work, access to information, and the Internet). 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 from recorded information.
| Group Presentation | 25% |
| Application Project | 20% |
| Midterm | 25% |
| Article Analysis | 15% |
| Participation | 15% |
Note: Several of the assignments in this course will require creating a web page and posting it on the Internet. Please contact me if you have any questions about this.
| Topic | Readings | |
| Week 1 (1/12) | Introduction | |
| Week 2 (1/19) | Jesse Shera and Social Epistemology | Shera (both articles), Furner |
| Week 3 (1/26) | Objectives of Information Services | Hamburg |
| Week 4 (2/2) | Epistemology | Steup, Descartes |
| Week 5 (2/9) | Social Epistemology | Goldman, Bloor |
| Week 6 (2/16) | Worries about Epistemology | Popper, Harding |
| Week 7 (2/23) | Epistemic Objectives | Thagard, Paterson |
| Week 8 (3/1) | Midterm posted on March 4th | |
| Week 9 (3/8) | Applications to Information Science | |
| Week 10 (3/15) | Spring Break | |
| Week 11 (3/22) | More Applications | |
| Week 12 (4/1) | Intellectual Freedom and Epistemology | |
| Week 13 (4/5) | Information Ethics and Epistemology | |
| Week 14 (4/12) | Presentations | |
| Week 15 (4/19) | Presentations | |
| Week 16 (4/26) | Presentations | |
| Week 17 (5/3) | Class ends on May 5th |
The readings for this course (which are subject to modification) are listed below according to topic. Some readings are on the web. Other readings are available online from the UA Library. Still other readings (viz., those which do not have links) are available through electronic reserves.
Note: There is no required text to buy. Even so, you may want to consider purchasing Knowledge in a Social World by Alvin Goldman (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999). At least two of the readings will be chapters from this book. In addition, there are a number of other chapters in this book that are very relevant to topics that we will discuss in this course.
Note: The Furner and McDowell articles are from an issue of Social Epistemology on "Social Epistemology and Information Science." There are several other articles in this issue that are relevant to this course. (This issue is available through the UA library, but it is also available as a free trial issue of this journal.)
1. Social Epistemology and Information Science
2. The Objectives of Information Services3. Epistemology 4. Social EpistemologyHamburg, M., Ramist, L. E., and Bommer, M. R. W. 1972. "Library Objectives and Performance Measures and Their Use in Decision Making." Library Quarterly 42:107-28 (especially pages 107 to 115).
5. Worries about Applying Epistemology to Information ScienceGoldman, Alvin. "Social Epistemology." http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/epistemology-social/. Bloor, David. 1976. "The Strong Programme in the Sociology of Knowledge." Pp. 1-19 in Knowledge and Social Imagery. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
6. Epistemic ObjectivesPopper, Karl. 1972. "Epistemology Without a Knowing Subject." Chapter 3 of Objective Knowledge. Oxford: Oxford (especially pages 106 to 117). Harding, Sandra. 1992. "After the Neutrality Ideal: Science, Politics, and "Strong Objectivity"." Social Research 59:567-87.
McDowell, Ashley. 2002. "Trust and Information: The Role of Trust in the Social Epistemology of Information Science." Social Epistemology 16:51-63. Fallis, Don. 2004. "Epistemic Value Theory and Information Ethics." Minds and Machines 14:101-17.
FURTHER INFORMATION
This class will have a listserv: IRLS617@listserv.arizona.edu. Please subscribe (see Subscription Information for instructions).
LINKS
WebCT Code of Academic Integrity SIRLS Computer Requirements
This document was last updated on March 5, 2004.