- Autumn 2023
Syllabus Description:
Final exam study guide here
You can find the full syllabus here
Smith's grading scale here
Professor Smith's office hours, by Zoom, Tuesdays 2:00-3:00 and Thursdays 4:00-5:00, https://washington.zoom.us/j/5054996338
Christianna Parr's office hours: Monday, 1:00-3:00 in Gowen 24
Nicolas Wittstock's office hours: Monday 9:00-11:00 in Smith 35
Schedule of classes:
Wednesday, September 27 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
The Economist, From Congo to the Capitol, Conspiracy Theories Are Surging, 2021, read, or here if you hit the paywall
Van Jones, Safe Spaces on College Campuses, 2017, watch
Kendra Cherry, How To Be Open-Minded, 2022, read
Soumya Ram, Before We Can Address Polarization, We Need to Establish Basic Facts, 2023, read
Friday, September 29 Introduction to your Friday sections
Part I: Premodern, Modern, and Postmodern Approaches to Truth
Monday, October 2 Premodern approaches to truth (slides)
Read/listen/watch:
Thomas Aquinas, The Sin of Blasphemy, 1269 (approximately), read
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
Answers in Genesis, Can We Prove the Bible is True?, 2011, read
Catholic Answers, Papal Infallibility, 2004, read
Albert Mohler, Postmodernism and Society, 2015, watch or listen
Tuesday, October 3
Acknowledgment of class policies due
Wednesday, October 4 Modern approaches to truth (slides)
Read/listen/watch:
Steven Pinker, Reason Is Non-Negotiable, 2018, read
Skeptics Society, What Is A Skeptic?, 2013, watch
Lee McIntyre, The Case for Science, 2019, watch
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
Melanie Trecek-King, A Life Preserver for Staying Afloat in a Sea of Misinformation, 2022, read
Thursday, October 5
Response memo #1 due
Friday, October 6 Premodern and modern approaches to truth
Monday, October 9 Postmodern approaches to truth (slides)
Read/listen/watch:
Roland Barthes, The Death of the Author, 1967, read
Reza Aslan, interview on The Daily Show, 2015, watch
Jesse Singal, Reza Aslan on What the New Atheists Get Wrong about Islam, 2014, read
Ross Douthat, How Michel Foucault Lost the Left and Won the Right, 2021, read, or here if you hit the paywall
Helen Pluckrose, The Evolution of Postmodern Thought, 2020, watch
Part II: How Individuals Pursue Truth and the Ways They Can Fail
Wednesday, October 11 Fallacies and biases that undermine reasoning (slides)
Read/listen/watch:
Melanie Trecek-King, Guide to the Most Common Logical Fallacies, 2023, read
Melanie Trecek-King, Guide to the Most Common Cognitive Biases and Heuristics, 2023, read
Carol Tavris, Why We Believe—Long After We Shouldn’t, 2017, watch
David Robson, The Intelligence Trap, interviewed on The Middle Way Society, 2019, watch or listen
Thursday, October 12
Response memo #2 due
Friday, October 13 Postmodern approaches to truth; fallacies and biases
Monday, October 16 Flaws in intuition (slides)
Read/listen/watch:
Melanie Trecek-King, Should You Trust Your Intuition?, 2023, read
Laurie Santos, How Monkeys Mirror Human Irrationality, 2010, watch
Annie Duke, Thinking in Bets, interviewed by Julia Galef on Rationally Speaking, 2018, listen
Emily Pronin, The Double Standard, interviewed on Hidden Brain, 2021, listen
Wednesday, October 18 Flaws in perception and memory (slides)
Read/listen/watch:
Daniel Simons, Seeing the World As It Isn’t, 2011, watch
Melanie Trecek-King, Four Ways Your Personal Experiences Can Lead You Astray, 2023, read
Elizabeth Loftus, How Reliable Is Your Memory, 2013, watch
Jennifer Sey, Doctor’s Orders, 2022, read
Julian Sanchez, Don’t Do Your Own Research, 2021, listen
Thursday, October 19
Response memo #3 due
Friday, October 20 Intuition, perception, and memory in the search for truth
Monday, October 23 Origins and effects of political polarization (slides)
Read/listen/watch:
Thomas Edsall, America, We Have a Problem: The Rise of ‘Political Sectarianism’ Is Putting Us All in Danger, 2020, read, or here if you hit the paywall
Jonathan Zimmerman, What Far-Right Conservatives Have in Common with 60’s Hippies, 2023, read, or here if you hit the paywall
Kat Rosenfield, Why I Keep Getting Mistaken for a Conservative, 2022, read, or here if you hit the paywall
John Judis, The Gaping Hole in the Center of the Electorate, 2023, read
Lilliana Mason, Uncivil Agreement, interviewed by Russ Roberts on Econtalk, 2018, listen
Wednesday, October 25 Tribalism and truth (slides)
Read/listen/watch:
Tom Jacobs, Why We Engage in Tribalism, Nationalism, and Scapegoating, 2018, read
Ezra Klein, How Politics Makes Us Stupid, 2014, read
Yascha Mounk, The Perils of 180ism, 2021, read
Jerry Taylor, The Alternative to Ideology, 2018, read
Hyrum Lewis, Our Big Fight Over Nothing: The Political Spectrum Does Not Exist, 2020, read
Verlan Lewis and Hyrum Lewis, The Myth of Ideological Polarization, 2022, read, or here if you hit the paywall
Thursday, October 26
Response memo #4 due
Friday, October 27 Polarization, tribalism, and truth
Monday, October 30 The limits of individual rationality (slides)
Read/listen/watch:
Robert Kurzban, Why Everyone (Else) Is a Hypocrite, talk at The Amazing Meeting, 2014, watch
Edge, The Argumentative Theory, A Conversation with Hugo Mercier, 2011, read
Scott Lilienfeld, Intellectual Humility: A Guiding Principle for the Skeptical Movement?, 2020, read
Brookings Institution, An Evening with Steven Pinker and Jonathan Rauch, 2021, watch
Tuesday, October 31 First paper due
Part III: Truth-Seeking Institutions and their Limitations
Wednesday, November 1 Experts and science (slides)
Read/listen/watch:
Wikipedia entry on homeopathy, read
Tom Nichols, The Death of Expertise, talk at Politics and Prose bookstore, 2017, watch or listen
Naomi Oreskes, Why Trust Science?, 2021, watch
Oliver Traldi, With All Due Respect to the Experts, 2022, read
Jeffrey Singer, Against Scientific Gatekeeping, 2022, read
Friday, November 2
Optional response memo #5 due
Friday, November 3 Individual rationality; reflections on the course so far
Monday, November 6 Science denial on the left and right (slides)
Read/listen/watch:
Luana Maroja, Self-Censorship on Campus is Bad for Science, 2019, read, or here if you hit the paywall
Jerry Taylor, A Paid Climate Change Skeptic Switches Sides, interviewed by Indre Viskontas on Inquiring Minds, 2017, listen
Barbara Hofer and Gale Sinatra, Science Denial: Why It Happens and What to Do about It, 2022, watch
Wednesday, November 8 Midterm exam
Friday, November 10 No class (Veterans’ Day)
Monday, November 13 Limitations of scientific institutions and practices (slides)
Read/listen/watch:
Vinay Prasad, A Decade of Reversal: An Analysis of 146 Contradicted Medical Practices, 2013, watch
Liv Grjebine, Politicized Science Drove Lunar Exploration and Stalinist Pseudoscience, 2021, read
Jonathan Rauch, The Danger of Politicizing Science, 2022, read
Stuart Ritchie, When Science Goes Wrong, 2022, watch
Wednesday, November 15 Universities and truth (slides)
Read/listen/watch:
University of Chicago, Report of the Committee on Freedom of Expression, 2014, read
Heterodox Academy, Understanding the Campus Expression Climate, Three-Year Report, 2022, read
Musa al-Gharbi, On the Relationship between Ideological and Demographic Diversity, 2019, read
Musa al-Gharbi, Concerns about ‘Leftist Indoctrination’ in Higher Ed Are Inaccurate. But This Doesn’t Make Them Unreasonable, 2023, read
American Association of University Professors, Statement on Professional Ethics, 2009, read
Lara Schwartz, False Equivalence, interviewed by Chris Martin on Half Hour of Heterodoxy, 2019, listen
Thursday, November 16
Response memo #6 due
Friday, November 17 Universities, science, and science denial
Monday, November 20 Does (or can) the news media uncover truth? (slides)
Read/listen/watch:
Society of Professional Journalists, Code of Ethics, 1926 version, read
Society of Professional Journalists, Code of Ethics, 2014 version, read
Associated Press, Statement of News Values and Principles, 2018, read
Wesley Lowery, A Reckoning over Objectivity, Led by Black Journalists, 2020, read, or here if you hit the paywall
Tara Henley, On Objectivity, 2022, read
Is Objectivity Essential to Journalism?, debate between Bret Stephens and Leonard Downie Jr., 2023, listen
Wednesday, November 22 Objectivity and subjectivity in the news media; moral truths (slides) (Zoom recording)
Read/listen/watch:
Danah Boyd, Did Media Literacy Backfire?, 2017, read
The Onion, CNN Holds Morning Meeting to Decide What Viewers Should Panic about for Rest of Day, 2014, read
Carolyn Hax, Learning to Cope in a Chaotic World, 2020, read
Philosophy Vibe, Moral Relativism--Explained and Debated, 2021, watch
Friday, November 24 (no class—Thanksgiving break)
Monday, November 27 Courts as venues for truth-seeking (slides)
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
Wednesday, November 29 Polarization and truth-seeking during the Covid pandemic, part 1 (slides)
Read/listen/watch:
Mark Alan Smith, Masking Uncertainty in Public Health, 2023, read
National Review, The Covid Cover-Up, 2023, 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
Tracy Beth Høeg and Christine Stabell Benn, US and Danish Covid-19 Response and Child Vaccination Policy, 2023, listen
Thursday, November 30
Response memo #7 due
Friday, December 1 The media and courts; truth-seeking during the Covid pandemic
Monday, December 4 Polarization and Truth Seeking during the Covid Pandemic, part 2 (slides)
Read/listen/watch:
F. D. Flam, It's Past Time Scientists Admitted Their Covid Mistakes, 2023, read, or here if you hit the paywall
Tuesday, December 5 Second paper due
Wednesday, December 6 Individual and institutional means of seeking truth (slides)
Read/listen/watch:
Isaac Saul, Misinformation Is Here to Stay (And That’s OK), 2022, read
Ryan Long, I Joined the Disinformation Governance Board, 2022, watch
Ana Mari Cauce, Our University Will Not Tolerate Religious Bigotry or Harassment, 2023, read
Friday, December 8 Course review
Thursday, December 14 Final exam (covering material from the entire quarter) from 2:30-4:20