Applying Epistemology to Information Policy Decisions

Abstract

This is a presentation (21 slides) for a panel on for a panel on Philosophy and information science: The basics Philosophy and information science: The basics at the 2006 Annual Meeting of the American Society for Information Science & Technology, Austin, Texas, November 6, 2006. The main reason that people seek information is in order to acquire knowledge. For example, people want to acquire true beliefs about the world, acquire justified beliefs, avoid false beliefs, and gain understanding and wisdom. Epistemology is the study of what knowledge is and of how people acquire knowledge. Thus, work in epistemology can help us to clarify the goals that we have when we seek information. In this talk, I discuss how such work can guide us as we make important decisions about the use and control of information (e.g., decisions about intellectual property laws, collection management policies, techniques for evaluating information on the Internet).