Wikipedia

Abstract

This chapter summarizes the Wikipedia debates within applied epistemology and argues that the social organization of the Wikipedia community shapes its epistemic merits and limitations. First, veritistic systems-oriented social epistemology is used to evaluate Wikipedia’s impact on the formation and dissemination of true beliefs within its community of users. Second, the chapter draws on the social epistemology of trust to argue that Wikipedia’s epistemic status depends on its complex and shifting relations of trust and distrust. Finally, this chapter applies feminist epistemology to show that lack of diversity in Wikipedia’s community is a pressing epistemic threat.

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