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DearPlato
Fake news is the recently hyped up phenomenon of news organizations deliberately publishing hoaxes, propaganda, and half-truths to amplify traffic on their websites or push their political agendas. Prior to the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election, fake news barely impacted the election process. However, it has now turned into a political weapon, with supporters on both sides of the race accusing each other.
Hello Joseph!
At the end of the day, fake news is just the modern day wikiality and truthiness, meaning it still irrefutably restricts what we can know – limiting true knowledge. (Wikiality is the phenomenon of Wikipedia trolls having the ability to freely edit facts from their encyclopedia pages.) The problem with wikiality is that incorrect information is released to the public, limiting our knowledge. The concept of truthiness, where preferred or opinionated facts are true is, as Stephen Colbert said, “tearing apart our country”. When “facts” from opinion are deemed true, it misleads the people. So what can be done?
Philosophically, many epistemologists are willing to give justified true beliefs a shot at true knowledge – and that is exactly the type of news you should trust. Judge for yourself if the news you are receiving follows these three conditions: the statement is true, you believe the statement is true, you are justified in believing the statement is true. For example, you could make a knowledge claim that “Trump hates women” only if Trump hates women, you believe trump hates women, and you are justified in believing trump hates women.
you are receiving follows these three conditions: the statement is true, you believe the statement is true, you are justified in believing the statement is true. For example, you could make a knowledge claim that “Trump hates women” only if Trump hates women, you believe trump hates women, and you are justified in believing trump hates women.
I discuss the nature of knowledge and whether knowledge from belief can be counted as true in my famous work Theaetetus. In this dialogue, Socrates questions Theaetetus on ‘what is knowledge’. In summary, Socrates explains that knowledge is not perception, true belief, or true belief with an account. Essentially, he rejects theories of knowledge rather than proving them. At first, I explain to Theaetetus that knowledge is not geometry, astronomy, harmony, or arithmetic, because “for any x, examples of x are neither necessary nor sufficient for a definition of x.”
Unfortunately, we will never really be able to completely get rid of wikiality, truthiness, and fake news. This is because the main flaw in mankind’s search for the definition of knowledge is being on Earth with our senses and opinions. Biases will always get in the way, and there is no real definition of knowledge. Instead, do the best you can to receive your news from various outlets and do your own research on the side. This way, you will be able to determine justified true beliefs that you can personally accept as true knowledge.