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Knowledge in Crisis

Knowledge in Crisis

Tim Crane (ORCID: 0000-0001-9455-3957)
  • Grant DOI 10.55776/COE3
  • Funding program Clusters of Excellence
  • Status ongoing
  • Start October 1, 2023
  • End September 30, 2028
  • Funding amount € 8,892,526
  • Project website
  • E-mail

Disciplines

Philosophy, Ethics, Religion (100%)

Keywords

    Epistemology, Science, Ethics, Mind, Language, Political Philosophy

Abstract

Knowledge is the ultimate human resource: without knowledge we cannot effectively manage the environment, our cities, healthcare, governments, education systems, science, culture and everything else. Knowledge is what makes our societies flourish and grow. But today we face a crisis of knowledge. Our claims to knowledge are being threatened by rapid and spectacular developments in technology, as well as by attacks on the very ideas of knowledge and truth themselves. The flood of information on the internet challenges our ability to tell truth from falsehood. Artificial Intelligence produces apparently plausible texts which have little connection to reality. Across many areas of inquiry, there is a widespread rejection of standards of evidence and expertise. Misinformation is spread as if it were information (for example, about democratic elections). There are conspiracy theories about the authority of science: for example, about climate change and vaccines. What explains this crisis, how should we understand it, and how should we deal with it? At the heart of the crisis of knowledge are philosophical problems about the relationship between knowledge, truth, science, ethics and politics; and ultimately our relationship to reality itself. Some of these questions are among the perennial questions of philosophy. For example: What is truth? What is knowledge? Who or what is a knower? Does science have any special authority in telling us what to believe? But some questions arise especially for us today. For example: how can we tell whether information on the internet is fake? Are there alternative facts? How can we allow a plurality of views and tolerate disagreement? How should scientific knowledge function in our democratic societies? What is democracy and how can it be defended? The Knowledge in Crisis project addresses these large philosophical questions by bringing together philosophers from four Austrian universities (CEU, the universities of Vienna, Graz and Salzburg). The Cluster starts from the assumption that in order to understand and tackle this crisis, we need a new approach which brings thinkers from many areas of philosophy together not just in the small part of philosophy which deals with questions about knowledge, but also in the fields of ethics, political philosophy, and the philosophies of science, mind, language and reality. These areas of philosophy normally pursue their questions independently, but Knowledge in Crisis will probe the deep connections between them, and therefore make possible a completely new understanding of todays crises of knowledge.

Consortium
  • Tim Crane, Central European University Private University
    Director of Research (01.10.2023 -)
  • Hans Bernhard Schmid, Universität Wien
    Board of Directors (01.10.2023 -)
  • Marian David, Universität Graz
    Board of Directors (01.10.2023 -)
  • Charlotte Werndl, Universität Salzburg
    Board of Directors (01.10.2023 -)
  • Max Kölbel, Universität Wien
    Board of Directors (01.10.2023 -)
  • Katalin Farkas, Central European University Private University
    Board of Directors (01.10.2023 -)
  • Paulina A. Sliwa, Universität Wien
    Board of Directors (01.10.2023 -)
  • Jason Means, Central European University Private University
    Board of Directors (14.11.2023 -)
Key Researchers
  • Anca Gheaus, Central European University Private University (31.3.2023 -)
  • Asya Passinsky, Central European University Private University (31.3.2023 -)
  • Cathy Mason, Central European University Private University (31.3.2023 -)
  • Ferenc Huoranszki, Central European University Private University (31.3.2023 -)
  • Maria Kronfeldner, Central European University Private University (31.3.2023 -)
  • Matt Dougherty, Central European University Private University (16.9.2024 -)
  • Simon Rippon, Central European University Private University (14.11.2023 -)
  • Guido Melchior, Universität Graz (31.3.2023 -)
  • Julian F. Müller, Universität Graz (6.11.2024 -)
  • Katharina Felka, Universität Graz (31.3.2023 -)
  • Martina Fürst, Universität Graz (31.3.2023 -)
  • Sonja Rinofner-Kreidl, Universität Graz (31.3.2023 -)
  • Ursula Renz, Universität Graz (31.3.2023 -)
  • Bettina Bussmann, Universität Salzburg (31.3.2023 -)
  • Julien Murzi, Universität Salzburg (31.3.2023 -)
  • Patricia Palacios, Universität Salzburg (31.3.2023 -)
  • Angela Kallhoff, Universität Wien (31.3.2023 -)
  • Benjamin Sebastian Schnieder, Universität Wien (31.3.2023 -)
  • Franz-Markus Peschl, Universität Wien (31.3.2023 -)
  • Herwig Grimm, Universität Wien (31.3.2023 -)
  • Mark Coeckelbergh, Universität Wien (31.3.2023 -)
  • Markus Pinkert, Universität Wien (31.3.2023 -)
  • Tarja Knuuttila, Universität Wien (31.3.2023 -)
Associated Researchers
  • Julian Reiss, Universität Linz (31.3.2023 -)
Research institution(s)
  • Universität Wien - 49%
  • Universität Graz - 16%
  • Central European University Private University - 22%
  • Universität Salzburg - 13%
International project participants
  • Jonathan Schaffer, Rutgers University - USA
  • Georgi Gardiner, Tulane University - USA
  • Jason Stanley, Yale University - USA
  • Jessie Munton, University of Cambridge - United Kingdom
  • Quassim Cassam, University of Warwick - United Kingdom

Research Output

  • 5 Citations
  • 9 Publications
Publications
  • 2024
    Title Where conspiracy theories come from, what they do, and what to do about them
    DOI 10.1080/0020174x.2024.2375778
    Type Journal Article
    Author Harris K
    Journal Inquiry
    Pages 1-28
    Link Publication
  • 2024
    Title Phenomenal knowledge, imagination, and hermeneutical injustice
    DOI 10.4324/9781003366898-14
    Type Book Chapter
    Author Fürst M
    Publisher Taylor & Francis
    Pages 173-197
    Link Publication
  • 2024
    Title How Technical Advances Changed the Concept of Antibodies
    DOI 10.1111/imr.13425
    Type Journal Article
    Author Swiatczak B
    Journal Immunological Reviews
    Pages 39-48
    Link Publication
  • 2024
    Title Procreative Prerogatives and Climate Change
    DOI 10.1111/japp.12773
    Type Journal Article
    Author Pinkert F
    Journal Journal of Applied Philosophy
    Pages 44-66
    Link Publication
  • 2024
    Title Evidential Incognizance
    DOI 10.1007/s12136-024-00608-0
    Type Journal Article
    Author Rippon S
    Journal Acta Analytica
    Pages 663-676
    Link Publication
  • 2025
    Title Haller on the Principles of Empirical Knowledge
    DOI 10.1163/18756735-00000224
    Type Journal Article
    Author Friedl J
    Journal Grazer Philosophische Studien
    Pages 362-379
  • 2025
    Title Non-Kantianism or Anti-Kantianism?
    DOI 10.1163/18756735-00000234
    Type Journal Article
    Author Renz U
    Journal Grazer Philosophische Studien
    Pages 277-296
  • 2025
    Title Knowledge, blameworthiness, and being in a position to know
    DOI 10.1080/0020174x.2025.2495654
    Type Journal Article
    Author Melchior G
    Journal Inquiry
    Pages 1-23
    Link Publication
  • 2024
    Title Scientific realism, scientific practice, and science communication: An empirical investigation of academics and science communicators
    DOI 10.1016/j.shpsa.2024.05.005
    Type Journal Article
    Author Pils R
    Journal Studies in History and Philosophy of Science
    Pages 85-98
    Link Publication

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