Università Roma Tre

The course "Epistemologia e comunicazione" aims to present some theoretical tools of epistemology (classical and social) and to consider their application to two spheres of communication: scientific and digital communication. The course will therefore be divided into three parts, to each of which two weeks will be devoted. The first part, Outlines of Epistemology, will address some classic themes from classical epistemology, e.g., logic and argumentative fallacies, and from social epistemology, e.g., witnessing or epistemic injustice. The second part, Communication in & of Science, will present some elements of the internal social structure of science, such as peer review and the division of cognitive labor, as well as the topic of scientific communication. Finally, the third part, Communication and the Digital, will discuss issues such as the propagation of (dis)information through social networks, some ethical and welfare issues related to the architecture of certain platforms, as well as the problem of deepfakes and non-consensual dissemination of intimate images.

Mandatory for everybody:
1. Boem, F. (2021). Forme dell'argomentare e del ragionare. Le Monnier Università.

Additionally, each student can pick two of these books:
1. Massimiano Bucchi (2002). Scienza e società: introduzione alla sociologia della scienza. Il Mulino.
2. Marco Fasoli (2019), Il benessere digitale. Il Mulino.
3. Fabio Paglieri (2020), La disinformazione felice: cosa ci insegnano le bufale. Il Mulino.
4. Luciano Paccagnella (2020). Sociologia della comunicazione nell'era digitale. Il Mulino.
5. NB 3 or 6 articles, to be agreed with the teacher, can be picked instead of 1 or 2 books.

PARTS OF THE LESSONS WILL BE BASED UPON:
a) Lineamenti di epistemologia:
• Goldman, Alvin and Cailin O’Connor, "Social Epistemology", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2021 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = .
• Leonard, Nick, "Epistemological Problems of Testimony", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer 2021 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = .
• Okasha, Samir (2006). Il primo libro di filosofia della scienza. Einaudi.

b) Comunicazione nella & della scienza
• Cerroni, A., & Simonella, Z. T. (2014). Sociologia della scienza: capire la scienza per capire la società contemporanea. Carocci editore.
• Merton, R. K., & Bucchi, M. (2011). Scienza, religione e politica. Il Mulino.
• Viola, M., Vissio, G. (in stampa), L’effetto San Paolo: retoriche della conversione nella religione e nella scienza.
• Viola, M. (2019), La scienza dei premi Nobel per le scienze. Quaderni di Sociologia, 82, 83-93.
• Gagliardi, F., & Viola, M. (2019), La regola della priorità nella scienza e la scoperta dell’Antimateria. Paradigmi, 38(3), 585-605.

c) Comunicazione e digitale
• Henry, N., McGlynn, C., Flynn, A., Johnson, K., Powell, A., & Scott, A. J. (2020). Image-based sexual abuse: A study on the causes and consequences of non-consensual nude or sexual imagery. Routledge.
• Arfini, S., Bertolotti, T., & Magnani, L. (2019). Online communities as virtual cognitive niches. Synthese, 196(1), 377-397.
• Figà Talamanca, G., & Arfini, S. (2022). Through the newsfeed glass: Rethinking filter bubbles and Echo chambers. Philosophy & Technology, 35(1), 1-34.
• Fasoli, M. (2021). The Overuse of Digital Technologies: Human Weaknesses, Design Strategies and Ethical Concerns. Philosophy & Technology, 34(4), 1409-1427.
• Viola, M., Voto, C. (in stampa), La diffusione non consensuale di contenuti intimi ai tempi dei deepfake: una controprofezia ottimista. Rivista Italiana di Filosofia del Linguaggio.
• Viola, M., Voto, C., Designed to abuse? Deepfakes and the non-consensual diffusion of intimate images.