Paul Faulkner, Department of Philosophy, University of Sheffield FAKE NEWS! Paul Faulkner, Department of Philosophy, University of Sheffield

Fake News Trump want to discredit particular news items as “#FakeNews” And to discredit the media generally as “#FakeNews media” I want to look at the epistemological mechanism involved and the implications of this. From Trump’s twitter feed:

What is needed for knowledge? Epistemologists argue about what it is to know something, and so about what is needed for knowledge. But nearly everyone agrees that KNOWLEDGE requires that: YOU GOT IT RIGHT IT NOT BE LIKELY THAT YOU GOT IT WRONG YOU NOT THINK THAT YOU’RE LIKELY TO HAVE GOT IT WRONG Let me look at these 3 conditions, and then apply them to the #FakeNews issue.

YOU GOT IT RIGHT Do you know there is a barn on the hill? Yes! You can see that there is one there. You see a barn on a hill.

YOU GOT IT WRONG Do you know there is a barn on the hill? No! You can’t know there is a barn there when there isn’t. You got it wrong; you’re looking at a fake barn. You a barn façade on a hill – a left over prop from a movie set.

IT NOT BE LIKELY THAT YOU GOT IT WRONG Do you know that there is a barn on the hill? No! While you are looking at the real barn and so getting it right, you could just as easily be looking at a fake barn and getting it wrong. Knowledge requires it not be likely that you got it wrong. Now suppose you are looking at the real barn. But the real barn is surrounded by lots of fakes

YOU NOT THINK THAT YOU’RE LIKELY TO HAVE GOT IT WRONG Do you know that there is a barn on the hill? No! Because if you think most of them are fake, you probably won’t believe that there is a barn on the hill. And if you did believe this, you SHOULDN’T! (Given that you believe that most seeming barns are fake.) Now suppose you are looking at a real barn … …. surrounded by fakes. And you think that most of the ‘barns’ you can see are fake. (It doesn’t matter whether this thought is true or false!)

Testimony Knowing that there is a barn on a hill by looking at the hill and seeing what appears to be a barn is knowledge based on perception. We are interested in knowledge based on testimony. Knowing that something is so because someone tells you that it is so. However, the same points hold because these are general points about knowledge.

#FakeNews In this case reading the newspaper report that p is like looking at a fake barn. You can’t get to know that p because that p is a “fabricated lie”. It is #FakeNews Suppose that trump is right and that "the leaks coming out the White House are fabricated lies".

#FakeNews Media In this case reading a true newspaper report that p is like looking at a real barn on a hillside of fake barns. You don’t get to know that p even if it is true. Suppose Trump is right and that most news items are #FakeNews and that the media is really the “#FakeNews Media”

You think #FakeNews Media This wrongness doesn’t matter IF you think with Trump that the media is #FakeNews media. If you think this, you can’t get to know that p even if you read a true newspaper report. But suppose that Trump is wrong and that most news is responsibly sourced and checked. (Suppose that newspapers don’t reveal their sources for good reasons.)

Undercutting Trust, Undercuts Knowledge So by continually asserting that the news media is #FakeNews media, Trump insinuates the thought that this is so. And if you think this, you lose your capacity to gain any knowledge from the news media. This is the epistemological mechanism. The epistemological implications: if you criticise me on the basis of something you don’t know, your ciritism is neutered. So Trump thereby aims to disable criticism from the vehicle most in a position to do this. And Trump quite self-conscious about this!