CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2024
| Author | Heyl, Johard |
|---|---|
| Title | The Short-term benefits and Long-term Harms of Echo Chambers |
| Summary | In this paper I analyse the definitions and evaluation of the epistemic status of echo chambers as appears in the philosophical literature. From this analysis, I define echo chambers as enclosed environments where consonant beliefs are reinforced while external views are filtered out through omission and discrediting. I argue from this definition and in engagement with previous literature that typical features of echo chambers, if rational and truth-conducive, may not be epistemically problematic. However, I argue that from within an echo chamber, unable to verify if one’s own echo chamber is truth conducive, there would arise potential long-term harms through being unable to correct developing mistakes in one’s sources over time. This is despite short term epistemic benefits of echo chambers such as to resist misinformation and prematurely dismissing established beliefs. I conclude that if one is in an echo chamber, unable to verify its truth-conduciveness, there would be benefit in periodically engaging with countervailing views over the long term, if not the short term |
| Supervisor | Rippon, Simon |
| Department | Undergraduate Studies BA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2024/heyl_johard.pdf |
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