Teaching Workshop: Advanced Philosophical Workshop 5

This seminar offers an introduction to the philosophy of conspiracy theories and fake news with the twofold aim of: (1) addressing some of the key philosophical questions that arise in studying such phenomena, and (2) exploring the important public role that philosophy can play in dealing with the social problems that such phenomena present.
Conspiracy theories and fake news will then be investigated at two different levels. To begin, we will discuss a number of important philosophical questions which concern them, such as: what are conspiracy theories and fake news? What make them so appealing and viral? Is it always irrational to believe in conspiracy theories and fake news - and if so, why? What are the more effective intervention strategies to address the problem of conspiracy theories, fake news and disinformation more in general? What are the moral and political implications of such strategies?
On this basis, we will use conspiracy theories and fake news as a paradigmatic case-study to learn about the communication tools of public philosophy, testing such tools and putting them into practice. With this aim in mind, students will be involved in the design of an interactive museum exhibition on conspiracy theories and fake news which is part of the "Philosophy Museum" project: they will actively contribute to designing and testing exhibition materials including games, audio-visual materials, flyers, and more.

The workshop aims to develop the following skills:

Critical thinking skills:
By the end of the workshop, students will display a sufficiently independent critical approach in selecting and interpreting the notions that are most relevant their area of study and to the broader socio-cultural context in which they operate

Communication skills:
By the end of the workshop:
- students will be able to effectively communicate the acquired knowledge and disseminate it to the general public;
- student will have developed basic IT skills concerning knowledge preservation and transfer.

Learning skills:
By the end of the workshop, students will have developed the learning skills required to continue their studies in keeping with their own research interests. In order to meet this objective, students will also develop relevant skills in the independent interpretation of sources and in the use of basic IT tool for bibliographic research.