Abstract

In this chapter, I argue that it is time for an applied turn in epistemology analogous to the applied turn in ethics of the 1970s. Our epistemic landscape is changing rapidly. For example, the rise of new technologies, such as mobile phones and the internet, along with the decline of older sources of information, such as newspapers and traditional reference books, have significantly changed the ways in which we acquire knowledge and justify our beliefs. Philosophers, and especially epistemologists, should be engaging in contemporary debates about these changes. The “knowledge economy” and the “information society” cry out for a new approach to epistemology. To some extent, the applied turn in epistemology is already underway. Although the term “applied epistemology” doesn't have the kind of brand recognition that “applied ethics” does, in recent years, several philosophers, some of whom are represented in this book, have explicitly applied epistemic considerations to issues of contemporary concern. Much of this has been categorised as “social epistemology”, rather than “applied epistemology”. Although the concerns of social epistemology and applied epistemology overlap to a great extent, they should be distinguished. Not all social epistemology is particularly applied and not all applied epistemology is particularly social.