Teaching Workshop: Philosophy Workshop 3

This seminar offers an introduction to the philosophy of conspiracy theories and fake news with the twofold aim of: addressing some of the key philosophical questions that arise in studying such phenomena, on the one hand, and exploring the important public role that philosophy can play in addressing such phenomena in the current social context, on the other hand.
More specifically, the seminar aims to:
1) Provide the relevant conceptual tools to understand complex phenomena such as conspiracy theories and fake news;
2) Explore the cognitive and social mechanisms that underlie such phenomena;
3) Illustrate and assess different available intervention strategies to mitigate the problematic consequences of misinformation;
4) Introduce and test the most effective tools to communicate research on these themes.

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.