Marco Meyer (York): Fake News, Conspiracy, and Intellectual Virtue
Recent work in virtue epistemology has suggested that conspiracy theorists suffer from intellectual vices. I present new evidence from survey experiments measuring intellectual virtue and the readiness of people to buy into conspiracy theories and their ability to spot fake news. I focus on three questions. First, can intellectual virtue and vice be measured? Second, what can philosophers learn from empirical measures about the nature of virtue? Third, do epistemic vices explain readiness to buy into conspiracy theorists, and to believe fake news?