Peer Reviewed Articles by Eric Kerr
Information, Communication & Society , 2019
In this paper, we use trolling to illuminate the entangled and complex relationship between onlin... more In this paper, we use trolling to illuminate the entangled and complex relationship between online debate, technological infrastructure, and justice. While a great deal of research has investigated the harmful effects of trolling in the form of cyberbullying and online harassment, attention to the infrastructure of trolling can provide new insights into information flows within digital infrastructure, and consequently, bears on questions such as access to, and quality of, information; the status and credibility of knowledge claims and claimants; and about the gatekeepers of knowledge and information. We show how trolling takes advantage of the rapidity of information transmission and reproduction; technical illiteracy; automation; and 'soft' infrastructure such as conventions, protocols, etiquette, and rules governing online communities to affect informational justice using a methodologically symmetrical approach.
Philosophical Issues 24(1): 253-281. 2014.
Abstract In recent years, the idea has been gaining ground that our traditional conceptions of kn... more Abstract In recent years, the idea has been gaining ground that our traditional conceptions of knowledge and cognition are unduly limiting, in that they privilege what goes on inside the 'skin and skull' (Clark 1997: 82) of an individual reasoner. Instead, it has been argued, knowledge and cognition need to be understood as embodied (involving both mind and body), situated (being dependent on the complex interplay between the individual and its environment), and extended (that is, continuous with, rather than separate from, the world ‘outside’). Whether these various interrelations and dependencies are ‘merely’ causal, or are in a more fundamental sense constitutive of knowledge and cognition, is as much a matter of controversy as the degree to which they pose a challenge to ‘traditional’ conceptions of cognition, knowledge and the mind. In this paper we argue that when the idea of 'extendedness' is applied to a core concept in epistemology and the philosophy of science – namely, scientific evidence – things appear to be on a much surer footing. The evidential status of data gathered through extended processes – including its utility as justification or warrant – do not seem to be weakened by virtue of being extended, but instead are often strengthened because of it. Indeed, it is often precisely by virtue of this extendedness that scientific evidence grounds knowledge claims, which individuals may subsequently ascribe to themselves. The functional equivalence between machine-based gathering, filtering, and processing of data and human interpretation and assessment is the crucial factor in deciding whether evidence has been gathered, rather than the distinction between intra- and extracranial processes or individual and social processes (or combinations thereof). To prioritize biological processes here, and to assert the superiority of human cognitive capacities seems both arbitrary and unwarranted with respect to gathering evidence, and ultimately would lead to an unattractive skepticism about many of the methods used in science to gather evidence. In other words, conceiving of scientific evidence as ‘impersonal’ (or at least non necessarily personal) not only better captures the character of evidence-gathering in practice, but also makes sense of a large amount of evidence-gathering that ‘personal’ accounts fail to either acknowledge or accurately describe. Whilst we suggest it is likely that all internally-distributed evidence-gathering processes are merely contingently internal processes, a significant number of externally-distributed evidence-gathering processes are necessarily externally-distributed. Some evidence can only be gathered by extended epistemic agents.
Social Epistemology, 2015
The topic of epistemic normativity has come to the fore of recent work in epistemology, and so na... more The topic of epistemic normativity has come to the fore of recent work in epistemology, and so naturally, theories of knowledge, truth and justification have been increasingly held accountable to preserving normative epistemological
platitudes. Central to discussions of epistemic normativity are questions about epistemic agency and epistemic value. Here, our aim is to take up some of these issues as they come to bear on the rather unconventional brand of epistemology that was defended by Richard Rorty. Our purpose is to explore whether Rorty's epistemology - or perhaps his replacement for epistemology - can preserve these normative platitudes about epistemic agency, responsibility, achievement, and the value of knowledge. Our conclusion is a negative one: that Rorty's commitments leave him firmly at odds with some of the most plausible assumptions about epistemic agency and epistemic value.
Philosophical Issues
In recent years, the idea has been gaining ground that our traditional conceptions of knowledge a... more In recent years, the idea has been gaining ground that our traditional conceptions of knowledge and cognition are unduly limiting, in that they privilege what goes on inside the 'skin and skull' (Clark 1997: 82) of an individual reasoner. Instead, it has been argued, knowledge and cognition need to be understood as embodied (involving both mind and body), situated (being dependent on the complex interplay between the individual and its environment), and extended (that is, continuous with, rather than separate from, the world ‘outside’). Whether these various interrelations and dependencies are ‘merely’ causal, or are in a more fundamental sense constitutive of knowledge and cognition, is as much a matter of controversy as the degree to which they pose a challenge to ‘traditional’ conceptions of cognition, knowledge and the mind. In this paper we argue that when the idea of 'extendedness' is applied to a core concept in epistemology and the philosophy of science – namely, scientific evidence – things appear to be on a much surer footing. The evidential status of data gathered through extended processes – including its utility as justification or warrant – do not seem to be weakened by virtue of being extended, but instead are often strengthened because of it. Indeed, it is often precisely by virtue of this extendedness that scientific evidence grounds knowledge claims, which individuals may subsequently ascribe to themselves. The functional equivalence between machine-based gathering, filtering, and processing of data and human interpretation and assessment is the crucial factor in deciding whether evidence has been gathered, rather than the distinction between intra- and extracranial processes or individual and social processes (or combinations thereof). To prioritize biological processes here, and to assert the superiority of human cognitive capacities seems both arbitrary and unwarranted with respect to gathering evidence, and ultimately would lead to an unattractive skepticism about many of the methods used in science to gather evidence. In other words, conceiving of scientific evidence as ‘impersonal’ (or at least non necessarily personal) not only better captures the character of evidence-gathering in practice, but also makes sense of a large amount of evidence-gathering that ‘personal’ accounts fail to either acknowledge or accurately describe. Whilst we suggest it is likely that all internally-distributed evidence-gathering processes are merely contingently internal processes, a significant number of externally-distributed evidence-gathering processes are necessarily externally-distributed. Some evidence can only be gathered by extended epistemic agents.
Philosophy & Technology, 2018
How engineers know, and act on that knowledge, has a profound impact on society. Consequently, th... more How engineers know, and act on that knowledge, has a profound impact on society. Consequently, the analysis of engineering knowledge is one of the central challenges for the philosophy of engineering. In this article, we present a thematic multidisciplinary conceptual survey of engineering epistemology and identify key areas of research that are still to be comprehensively investigated. Themes are organized based on a survey of engineering epistemology including research from history, sociology, philosophy, design theory, and engineering itself. Five major interrelated themes are identified: the relationship between scientific and engineering knowledge, engineering knowledge as a distinct field of study, the social epistemology of engineering, the relationship between engineering knowledge and its products, and the cognitive aspects of engineering knowledge. We discuss areas of potential future research that are underdeveloped or "undone."
East Asian Science, Technology and Society, 2018
This special issue explores the conceptions of the human that emerge out of the form and the desi... more This special issue explores the conceptions of the human that emerge out of the form and the design of information and communications technologies (ICTs). Geographically, our focus compares two countries with a relatively high level of ICT penetration—South Korea and Singapore—and two countries with a relatively low level—India and Vietnam. In each country we see how different forms of the human emerge, in part out of the ways in which technological infrastructure develop and intertwine with social order. In this introduction we reflect on the long genealogy of " human " and " humanity " and the more recent history of ICTs in Asia.
East Asian Science, Technology and Society, 2018
The Internet or, as these authors argue, Internets (plural) in Asia are composed of cables and ex... more The Internet or, as these authors argue, Internets (plural) in Asia are composed of cables and exchanges, protocols and firewalls, regulations and other legal devices, making them subject to investment and governance strategies, as well as treaties and court cases. But they are also composed of figures, layers, stories, and rumors. These latter descriptors provide a heuristic framework of social features that, together with metaphors from folklore, provide analytic tools for understanding the diversity, conflicts, competitions, and disengagements of the patchwork of Internet development across Asia. The authors further argue that Singapore provides an exceptionally valuable comparative site from which to explore these features. The first
part of this article lays out some of the comparative features, and the second part turns to the four themes or heuristics of figures, layers, stories, and rumors, developed through an STS research cluster at the Asia Research Institute and Tembusu College, both at the National University of Singapore.
Society and Space , 2019
To make cities, the ground is constantly broken. In the earth’s cracking and assembling into some... more To make cities, the ground is constantly broken. In the earth’s cracking and assembling into something greater than the sum of its particles, lies the story of how tiny mobile objects govern global cities and how frontiers rely on the porosity of dust, mud, and earthy fragments.
Book Chapters by Eric Kerr
Technology, Anthropology, and Dimensions of Responsibility, 2020
This chapter considers the role of perception in petroleum engineering. Specifically, it looks at... more This chapter considers the role of perception in petroleum engineering. Specifically, it looks at data analysis practices in geological surveying, wellbore navigation, directional drilling and related techniques. It begins with a familiar argument in the philosophy of science that there are no stable, non-stipulative grounds for distinguishing between ordinary cases of perception and cases where the perceptual system includes microscopes. It extends this claim to the use of gyroscopes and the data they generate. Finally, it explores the implications of this form of perception for the idea of responsible analysis.
Example: Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod ... more Example: Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat. Ut wisi enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exerci tation ullamcorper suscipit lobortis nisl ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.
Society for the Philosophy of Information, Nov 22, 2013
Social Epistemology Review and Reply Collective 3(1): 5-13, Dec 2, 2013
Most accounts of what social epistemology is and what social epistemologists do will include, in ... more Most accounts of what social epistemology is and what social epistemologists do will include, in some form, the study of how knowledge is produced or acquired within a group or community: a collective. This could mean, in its weakest form, that individuals depend on the efforts of others for their own knowledge or, in its strongest form, that the group, rather than the individual, is the proper bearer of knowledge.
My starting point is that discussions in philosophy about the ontology of technical artifacts oug... more My starting point is that discussions in philosophy about the ontology of technical artifacts ought to be informed by classificatory practices in engineering. Hence, the heuristic value of the natural-artificial distinction in engineering counts against arguments which favour abandoning the distinction in metaphysics. In this chapter, I present the philosophical equipment needed to analyse classificatory practices and then present a case study of engineering practice using these theoretical tools. More in particular, I make use of the Collectivist Account of Technical Artifacts (CAT) according to which there are different classificatory practices for natural, artificial, and social objects. I demonstrate that in the community studied, artificial kinds are marked by distinctive classificatory practices. The presence of these distinctive classificatory practices in engineering with regard to artificial kinds should inform discussions about the ontology of technical artifacts just as the distinctive classificatory practices in natural science inform discussions about natural kinds.
H. Demir (eds), Luciano Floridi’s Philosophy of Technology: Critical Reflections. Springer.
Philosophers of information, according to Luciano Floridi (2010, 32), study how information shoul... more Philosophers of information, according to Luciano Floridi (2010, 32), study how information should be “adequately created, processed, managed, and used.” It is unlikely that we can do this without linking that study to the epistemic purposes of creating, processing, managing, and using information. Doing so, we claim with Floridi, requires attention to the epistemic value of information. In particular, our interest in information has a number of purposes, one of which is to acquire knowledge.
Book Reviews by Eric Kerr
Part of a symposium on Bryan van Norden's Taking Back Philosophy.
Kerr, Eric. “A Hermeneutic of ... more Part of a symposium on Bryan van Norden's Taking Back Philosophy.
Kerr, Eric. “A Hermeneutic of Non-Western Philosophy.” Social Epistemology Review and Reply Collective 7, no. 4 (2018): 1-6.
Social Epistemology Review and Reply Collective, 2019
2019 marks the end of my first full year as Book Reviews editor at SERRC and so I want to take th... more 2019 marks the end of my first full year as Book Reviews editor at SERRC and so I want to take this opportunity to reflect on what we’ve done in terms of promoting conversation and criticism around new books in social epistemology and to reflect on how we can apply insights from social epistemology to our book reviews at SERRC.
Singapore Review of Books, 2018
"On thinking with…" is the transcription of a text talk read by Jeremy Fernando at the Centre for... more "On thinking with…" is the transcription of a text talk read by Jeremy Fernando at the Centre for Science & Innovation Studies at UC Davis in 2015. The text certainly has the character of a reading: through closely attending to Stengers’ similarly transcribed talk (2012) Fernando traverses far-reaching themes – testimony, the gift, naming, listening – drawing them into a world made strange again through Stengers’ idea of “thinking with” – as opposed to analyzing or evaluating – notions of scientific progress, justice, and responsibility.
Books by Eric Kerr
This book introduces key topics in the philosophy of information, written by the PI research netw... more This book introduces key topics in the philosophy of information, written by the PI research network of the Society for the Philosophy of Information.
Beta version published 2012, first version published 2013.
This book serves as the main reference for an undergraduate course on Philosophy of Information. ... more This book serves as the main reference for an undergraduate course on Philosophy of Information. The book is written to be accessible to the typical undergraduate student of Philosophy and does not require propaedeutic courses in Logic, Epistemology or Ethics. Each chapter includes a rich collection of references for the student interested in furthering her understanding of the topics reviewed in the book.
The book covers all the main topics of the Philosophy of Information and it should be considered an overview and not a comprehensive, in-depth analysis of a philosophical area. As a consequence, 'The Philosophy of Information: a Simple Introduction' does not contain research material as it is not aimed at graduate students or researchers.
The book is available for free in multiple formats and it is updated every twelve months by the team of the π Research Network: Patrick Allo, Bert Baumgaertner, Simon D'Alfonso, Penny Driscoll, Luciano Floridi, Nir Fresco, Carson Grubaugh, Phyllis Illari, Eric Kerr, Giuseppe Primiero, Federica Russo, Christoph Schulz, Mariarosaria Taddeo, Matteo Turilli, Orlin Vakarelov.
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Peer Reviewed Articles by Eric Kerr
platitudes. Central to discussions of epistemic normativity are questions about epistemic agency and epistemic value. Here, our aim is to take up some of these issues as they come to bear on the rather unconventional brand of epistemology that was defended by Richard Rorty. Our purpose is to explore whether Rorty's epistemology - or perhaps his replacement for epistemology - can preserve these normative platitudes about epistemic agency, responsibility, achievement, and the value of knowledge. Our conclusion is a negative one: that Rorty's commitments leave him firmly at odds with some of the most plausible assumptions about epistemic agency and epistemic value.
part of this article lays out some of the comparative features, and the second part turns to the four themes or heuristics of figures, layers, stories, and rumors, developed through an STS research cluster at the Asia Research Institute and Tembusu College, both at the National University of Singapore.
Book Chapters by Eric Kerr
Book Reviews by Eric Kerr
Kerr, Eric. “A Hermeneutic of Non-Western Philosophy.” Social Epistemology Review and Reply Collective 7, no. 4 (2018): 1-6.
Books by Eric Kerr
Beta version published 2012, first version published 2013.
The book covers all the main topics of the Philosophy of Information and it should be considered an overview and not a comprehensive, in-depth analysis of a philosophical area. As a consequence, 'The Philosophy of Information: a Simple Introduction' does not contain research material as it is not aimed at graduate students or researchers.
The book is available for free in multiple formats and it is updated every twelve months by the team of the π Research Network: Patrick Allo, Bert Baumgaertner, Simon D'Alfonso, Penny Driscoll, Luciano Floridi, Nir Fresco, Carson Grubaugh, Phyllis Illari, Eric Kerr, Giuseppe Primiero, Federica Russo, Christoph Schulz, Mariarosaria Taddeo, Matteo Turilli, Orlin Vakarelov.
platitudes. Central to discussions of epistemic normativity are questions about epistemic agency and epistemic value. Here, our aim is to take up some of these issues as they come to bear on the rather unconventional brand of epistemology that was defended by Richard Rorty. Our purpose is to explore whether Rorty's epistemology - or perhaps his replacement for epistemology - can preserve these normative platitudes about epistemic agency, responsibility, achievement, and the value of knowledge. Our conclusion is a negative one: that Rorty's commitments leave him firmly at odds with some of the most plausible assumptions about epistemic agency and epistemic value.
part of this article lays out some of the comparative features, and the second part turns to the four themes or heuristics of figures, layers, stories, and rumors, developed through an STS research cluster at the Asia Research Institute and Tembusu College, both at the National University of Singapore.
Kerr, Eric. “A Hermeneutic of Non-Western Philosophy.” Social Epistemology Review and Reply Collective 7, no. 4 (2018): 1-6.
Beta version published 2012, first version published 2013.
The book covers all the main topics of the Philosophy of Information and it should be considered an overview and not a comprehensive, in-depth analysis of a philosophical area. As a consequence, 'The Philosophy of Information: a Simple Introduction' does not contain research material as it is not aimed at graduate students or researchers.
The book is available for free in multiple formats and it is updated every twelve months by the team of the π Research Network: Patrick Allo, Bert Baumgaertner, Simon D'Alfonso, Penny Driscoll, Luciano Floridi, Nir Fresco, Carson Grubaugh, Phyllis Illari, Eric Kerr, Giuseppe Primiero, Federica Russo, Christoph Schulz, Mariarosaria Taddeo, Matteo Turilli, Orlin Vakarelov.
What forms of writing make up the “front end” of the internet? How do different internet communities write themselves and their own histories, mythologies, and lore? How are stories remediated and reinvented online and what new forms of writing emerge through this process?
What forms of writing make up the “back end” of the internet? How do programming languages, algorithms, technological infrastructure, protocols, and so on, shape internet communities?
What does it mean for us, as scholars, to write the internet? What (new) methodologies are needed to do scholarship online and about the Internet? How should we communicate this scholarship to others given new methods of hosting and sharing information?
We take “digital folklore” and “Internet lore” to be key analytical terms in answering these questions. The term “lore”, in the digital realm, is used to refer to a (quasi-) fantastical background created by a user(s) (often syncretic and compiled from extant or re-purposed legend) or the attempt to create a ‘real’ history (Krzywinska, 2008). Internet lore is often more traceable than other forms of lore, in that records and caches of origin stories may still exist on the web. At the same time, it may be explicitly acknowledged to be artificial and recently invented, and even embraced as such.
The workshop proposes to challenge three assumptions about Internet lore:
That there is a single, global, monolingual (English) Internet that acts as a homogenizing technology, always, or mostly, eradicating difference;
That written work on the Internet merely transposes or digitizes offline genres rather than recreating written forms and creating new genres of writing; and
That the connections between writing and the Internet end at the user interface. That they do not extend, for example, into the languages underpinning websites or complex competitive algorithms and automated systems.
However, as demonstrated by the U.S. government’s concern expressed in its white paper, ‘Preparing for the Future of Artificial Intelligence’ (Oct 2016), A.I. and related technologies are innovative but can also be disruptive. The ways in which societies adopt new technologies often re-structures socio-cultural, political and economic conditions, which in turn change the employment landscape. With the emergence of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, we are expecting the creation of large numbers of lower-skilled workers and older people who need retraining, which will produce social problems (see, e.g., Amazon’s job-cut case resulting from warehouse automisation (Forbes, 2016), accelerating commodification of service in On-Demand and Sharing Economies (Lessig, 2008) and consequential labour precarity.)
According to the UN specialised agency International Labour Organization (2016), nearly 60% of employees in Southeast Asian regions would leave fearing for their jobs “in the next couple of decades” because of atomization. Although concerns about the impact of these technologies on social inequality are increasing, we have not yet explicitly heard the voices of those in precarious conditions who are potentially vulnerable to these changes. We have also not seen any detailed government plans explaining how this impact will be mitigated; how will governments protect and enhance the welfare of their citizens, minimize social inequality and address the technology gap? The dominant social discourses on ICBM, A.I. and Industry 4.0 tend to focus on the techno-economic-centric consideration of the embeddedness of new technology and measuring the sustainability of society. These discourses often follow Western development trends as a basis for discussion.
The aim of this conference is to explore the social implications of emerging and disruptive technologies in Asian contexts, focusing on Southeast Asian regions in particular, taking into consideration the different levels of ICT embeddedness (e.g., infrastructure readiness). This conference will update ICT social and cultural studies in contemporary Southeast Asia at comparative levels.
The conference will avoid techno centric approach or industrialisation based approaches to A.I. It focuses on present and near-future effects rather than speculative futures. Instead, this conference will cover socio-political issues related to Industry 4.0 from a ground-up perspective and will explore current strategies for how to manage this new era in everyday practice.
Some questions that may be addressed by the group:
How can we successfully employ new technologies in our teaching? What is success in this context and what are some good examples that we can learn from?
Have we succeeded in creating generative loops between the treatment of technology as a topic and the way we’ve employed technology in our teaching? What are some good examples that we can learn from?
What are the implications of various technologies on pedagogical issues including memory, reading, plagiarism, and academic integrity?
What are some of the differences and points of convergence in pedagogies situated in different places? What travels (and where) and what does not?
The festival showcases Singapore-based and international film-makers and artists who are using creative cinematic techniques and exploring provocative subject matter in Asia and beyond. The collection reimagines technologies from the everyday to the state-of-the-art both in their visual narratives and the production of the film itself.