- Autumn 2022
Syllabus Description:
Information about the final exam here
Smith's grading scale here
You can find the full syllabus here
Section syllabus for AA and AB (Anna Nguyen) here
Section syllabus for AC and AD (Christianna Parr) here
Link for Professor Smith's Wednesday office hours (4:00-5:00) by Zoom here
Professor Smith's Tuesday office hours (2:00-3:00) are in Gowen 29
Anna Nguyen's office hours are on Thursdays, 1:00-3:00 in Gowen 24
Christianna Parr's office hours are on Tuesdays, 1:30-3:30 in Gowen 24
Titles of podcasts here, in case you want to go to their original sources and download them there
Information about the midterm exam here
Thursday, September 29 Introduction to the class (slides)
Read/listen/watch:
Stephen Colbert, The Word—Truthiness, 2005 (just the first segment lasting 2:40, not the whole episode), watch (Links to an external site.)
Kendra Cherry, How to Be Open-Minded, 2022, read (Links to an external site.)
Kathryn Schulz, On Being Wrong, 2011, watch (Links to an external site.)
Van Jones, Safe Spaces on College Campuses, 2017, watch (Links to an external site.)
Robert George and Cornel West, Truth Seeking, Democracy, and Freedom of Thought and Expression, 2017, read (Links to an external site.)
The Economist, From Congo to the Capitol, Conspiracy Theories Are Surging, 2021, read, or here if you hit the paywall
Friday, September 30 Introduction to your Friday sections
Part I: Premodern, Modern, and Postmodern Approaches to Truth
Tuesday, October 4 Premodern approaches to truth (slides)
Read/listen/watch:
Thomas Aquinas, The Sin of Blasphemy, 1269 (approximately), read (Links to an external site.)
Pope Pius IX, Syllabus of Errors, 1864. Focus on #s 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 14, 15, 18, 21, 55, 77, 78, and 80, and remember that these are propositions Pope Pius IX is condemning, read (Links to an external site.)
Answers in Genesis, Can We Prove the Bible is True?, 2011, read (Links to an external site.)
Catholic Answers, Papal Infallibility, 2004, read (Links to an external site.)
Albert Mohler, Postmodernism and Society, 2015, watch (Links to an external site.) or listen
Wednesday, October 5
Acknowledgment of course policies due
Thursday, October 6 Modern approaches to truth (slides)
Response memo #1 due
Read/listen/watch:
Skeptics Society, What Is A Skeptic?, 2013, watch
Lee McIntyre, The Case for Science, 2019, watch (Links to an external site.)
Melanie Trecek-King, A Life Preserver for Staying Afloat in a Sea of Misinformation, 2022, read
Frederick Douglas, Plea for Freedom of Speech in Boston, 1860, read
Jonathan Zimmerman, Why Free Speech?, 2021, read
Julia Galef, Why ‘Scout Mindset’ Is Crucial to Good Judgment, 2016, watch
Irshad Manji, Rethinking Life on the Left, 2019, watch (Links to an external site.)
Friday, October 7 Premodern and modern approaches to truth
Tuesday, October 11 Postmodern approaches to truth (slides)
Read/listen/watch:
Roland Barthes, The Death of the Author, 1967, read (Links to an external site.)
Reza Aslan, interview on The Daily Show, 2015, watch (Links to an external site.)
Jesse Singal, Reza Aslan on What the New Atheists Get Wrong about Islam, 2014, read (Links to an external site.)
Ross Douthat, How Michel Foucault Lost the Left and Won the Right, 2021, read (Links to an external site.), or here if you hit the paywall
Helen Pluckrose, The Evolution of Postmodern Thought, 2020, watch (Links to an external site.)
Part II: How Individuals Pursue Truth and the Ways They Can Fail
Thursday, October 13 Fallacies and biases that undermine reasoning (slides)
Response memo #2 due
Read/listen/watch:
Evan Thompson, 10 Logical Fallacies You Should Know before Getting into a Debate, 2022, read (Links to an external site.)
Carol Tavris, Why We Believe—Long After We Shouldn’t, 2017, watch (Links to an external site.)
David Robson, The Intelligence Trap, interviewed on The Middle Way Society, 2019, watch (Links to an external site.) or listen
Scott Lilienfeld, Intellectual Humility: A Guiding Principle for the Skeptical Movement?, 2020, read (Links to an external site.)
Friday, October 14 Postmodern approaches to truth; fallacies and biases
Tuesday, October 18 Flaws in intuition (slides)
Read/listen/watch:
Laurie Santos, How Monkeys Mirror Human Irrationality, 2010, watch (Links to an external site.)
Annie Duke, Thinking in Bets, interviewed by Julia Galef on Rationally Speaking, 2018, listen (Links to an external site.)
Emily Pronin, The Double Standard, interviewed on Hidden Brain, 2021, listen
Thursday, October 20 Flaws in perception and memory (slides)
Response memo #3 due
Read/listen/watch:
Daniel Simons, Seeing the World As It Isn’t, 2011, watch (Links to an external site.)
Elizabeth Loftus, How Reliable Is Your Memory, 2013, watch (Links to an external site.)
Jennifer Sey, Doctor's Orders, 2022, read
Julian Sanchez, Don’t Do Your Own Research, 2021, listen (Links to an external site.)
Friday, October 21 Intuition, perception, and memory in the search for truth
Tuesday, October 25 Origins and effects of political polarization (slides)
Read/listen/watch:
Cass Sunstein, The Polarization of Extremes, 2007, read, or here if you hit the paywall
Thomas Edsall, America, We Have a Problem: The Rise of ‘Political Sectarianism’ Is Putting Us All in Danger, read (Links to an external site.), or here if you hit the paywall
Yascha Mounk, The Perils of 180ism, read (Links to an external site.)
Yanna Krupnikov and John Barry Ryan, The Real Divide in America Is between Political Junkies and Everyone Else, 2020, read, or here if you hit the paywall
Lilliana Mason, Uncivil Agreement, interviewed by Russ Roberts on Econtalk, listen (Links to an external site.)
Thursday, October 27 Tribalism and truth (slides)
No response memo due this week
Read/listen/watch:
Tom Jacobs, Why We Engage in Tribalism, Nationalism, and Scapegoating, 2018, read (Links to an external site.)
Ezra Klein, How Politics Makes Us Stupid, read (Links to an external site.)
Christine Emba, Joe Biden Working While Covid-Sick Was Not ‘White Supremacy,’ 2022, read, or here if you hit the paywall
Jerry Taylor, The Alternative to Ideology, read (Links to an external site.)
Hyrum Lewis, Our Big Fight Over Nothing: The Political Spectrum Does Not Exist, read (Links to an external site.)
Verlan Lewis and Hyrum Lewis, The Myth of Ideological Polarization, 2022, read, or here if you hit the paywall
Friday, October 28 Polarization, tribalism, and truth; midterm exam review.
Tuesday, November 1 Midterm exam
Thursday, November 3 The limits of individual rationality (slides)
Response memo #4 due
Read/listen/watch:
Robert Kurzban, Why Everyone (Else) Is a Hypocrite, talk at The Amazing Meeting 2014, watch (Links to an external site.)
Edge, The Argumentative Theory, A Conversation with Hugo Mercier, 2011, read (Links to an external site.)
Kat Rosenfield, Why I Keep Getting Mistaken for a Conservative, 2022, read, or here if you hit the paywall
Isaac Stanley-Becker, Elon Musk, Right-Wing Figures Push Misinformation about Pelosi Attack, 2022, read, or here if you hit the paywall
Bonnie Kristien and Jonathan Rauch, On the Knowledge Crisis, 2022, listen
Friday, November 4 Individual rationality; reflections on the course so far
Part III: Truth-Seeking Institutions and Their Limitations
Tuesday, November 8 Experts and science (slides)
Read/listen/watch:
Tom Nichols, The Death of Expertise, talk at Politics and Prose bookstore, 2017, watch (Links to an external site.) or listen
Naomi Oreskes, Why Trust Science?, 2021, watch
Jeffrey Singer, Against Scientific Gatekeeping, 2022, read
Thursday, November 10 Science denial on the left and right (slides)
Response memo #5 due
Read/listen/watch:
Luana Maroja, Self-Censorship on Campus is Bad for Science, 2019, read (Links to an external site.)
Jerry Taylor, A Paid Climate Change Skeptic Switches Sides, interviewed by Indre Viskontas on Inquiring Minds, 2017, listen (Links to an external site.)
Barbara Hofer and Gale Sinatra, Science Denial: Why It Happens and What to Do about It, 2022, watch
Friday, November 11 No class (Veterans' Day)
Tuesday, November 15 Limitations of scientific institutions and practices (slides part 1) (slides part 2)
Read/listen/watch:
Jonathan Rauch, The Danger of Politicizing Science, 2022, read
Vinay Prasad, Science Editor in Chief Holden Thorpe Condemns DeSantis and Ladapo, 2022, watch or listen
Stuart Ritchie, When Science Goes Wrong, 2022, watch
Thursday, November 17 Universities and truth (slides part 1 Links to an external site.) (slides part 2 Links to an external site.)
Response memo #6 due
Read/listen/watch:
University of Chicago, Report of the Committee on Freedom of Expression, 2014, read (Links to an external site.)
MIT Statement on Freedom of Expression and Academic Freedom, 2022, read
American Association of University Professors, Statement on Professional Ethics, 2009, read (Links to an external site.)
Musa al-Gharbi, On the Relationship between Ideological and Demographic Diversity, 2019, read (Links to an external site.)
Jonathan Marks, The Right-Wing Outrage Machine Is Doing Campus Conservatives No Favors, 2022, read
Heterodox Academy, Understanding the Campus Expression Climate, Three-Year Report, 2022, read
Lara Schwartz, False Equivalence, interviewed by Chris Martin on Half Hour of Heterodoxy, listen (Links to an external site.)
Friday, November 18 Universities, science, and science denial
Monday, November 21 Paper due
Tuesday, November 22 Does (or can) the news media uncover truth? (slides)
Read/listen/watch:
Society of Professional Journalists, Code of Ethics (1926 version), read (Links to an external site.)
Society of Professional Journalists, Code of Ethics (2014 version), read (Links to an external site.)
Associated Press, Statement of News Values and Principles, 2018, read (Links to an external site.)
American Press Institute, The Lost Meaning of ‘Objectivity’, 2022, read (Links to an external site.)
Brent Cunningham, Re-thinking Objectivity, 2003, read (Links to an external site.)
Wesley Lowery, A Reckoning over Objectivity, Led by Black Journalists, 2020, read, or , here(Links to an external site.) if you hit the paywall
Jesse Singal, How the Media Fell for a Racism Sham, 2022, read, or here if you hit the paywall
Thursday, November 24 (no class—Thanksgiving break)
Friday, November 25 (no class—Thanksgiving break)
Tuesday, November 29 Objectivity and subjectivity in the news media; moral truths (slides)
Read/listen/watch:
Danah Boyd, Did Media Literacy Backfire?, read (Links to an external site.)
The Onion, CNN Holds Morning Meeting to Decide What Viewers Should Panic about for Rest of Day, read (Links to an external site.)
Carolyn Hax, Learning to Cope in a Chaotic World, read (Links to an external site.)
Russ Shafer-Landau, Metaethics and Moral Realism, 2022, watch or listen
Thursday, December 1 Courts as venues for truth-seeking (slides)
Response memo #7 due
Read/listen/watch:
Thomas Harper, On Pleasurable Beliefs, 2021, read (you have to become a subscriber, for free), or here if you don't want to become a subscriber
Lindsay Beyerstein, On Bullshit: Harry Frankfurt, Donald Trump, and Indifference to Truth, 2016, watch (Links to an external site.)
Friday, December 2 The media and courts
Tuesday, December 6 Polarization and truth-seeking during the Covid pandemic (slides)
Read/listen/watch:
Faye Flam, The Biggest Mistake of the Pandemic Is Still Haunting Us, 2022, read, or here if you hit the paywall
Kerrington Powell and Vinay Prasad, The Noble Lies of Covid-19, 2021, read
Soumya Karlamangla, Once Known for Vaccine Skeptics, Marin Now Tells Them ‘You’re Not Welcome’, 2022, read, or here if you hit the paywall
Joss Fong, How American Conservatives Turned Against the Vaccine, 2022, watch
Olivia Goldhill, Pushed by Right-Wing Doctor Groups, Desperate Patients Turn to Ivermectin for Long Covid, 2022, read
Kay Lazar, Prominent Doctor Faces Backlash Amid ‘Fight Over the Heart of Public Health’, 2022, read, or here if you hit the paywall
Thursday, December 8 Individual and institutional means of truth-seeking amid misinformation (slides)
No response memo due this week
Read/listen/watch:
Shira Ovide, YouTube’s Ban on Misinformation, 2021, read, or here if you hit the paywall
Sarah McQuate and Jackson Holtz, It’s Not Just Social Media—Misinformation Can Spread in Scientific Communication Too, 2021, read
Faye Flam, Fact-Checking Covid-19 Posts Isn’t Working, 2022, read, or here if you hit the paywall
Isaac Saul, Misinformation Is Here to Stay (And That’s OK), 2022, read
Nico Grant and Tiffany Hsu, Google Finds ‘Inoculating’ People against Misinformation Helps Blunt its Power, 2022, read, or here if you hit the paywall
Zubin Damania, California’s Covid Medical Misinformation Bill, 2022, watch or listen
Ryan Long, I Joined the Disinformation Governance Board, 2022, watch
Friday, December 9 Course review
Thursday, December 15 Final exam (covering only material since the midterm exam) from 4:30-6:20