Abstract
The Anatomy of Credulity and Incredulity: Or, a Hermeneutics of Misinformation
Highlights
How did the birth of information systems foster the human desire for knowing, believing and feeling reassured?
How can educational programs offer effective longer-term strategies for addressing the problem of misinformation?. This essay seeks both a deeper and a longer-term perspective on the fundamental problem of “misinformation.”. It offers a historical and philosophical approach, not with an eye to fixing the prevalence of that which is false, but by exploring why some people may continue to believe what they believe despite what the “facts” might say
Rather than looking at past examples of “fake news,” it ponders instead forms of belief and “denial” that refuse to engage with bodies of evidence
Summary
This essay explores the historical process by which the birth and expansion of information systems transformed the relationship between “faith” and “fact.” The existence of recurring forms of credulity and denial—from holocaust denial to climate change denial—suggests that patterns of belief and disbelief will not be resolved either with fact-checking or with the regulation of the press. While such approaches see the problem of misinformation in terms of a contest between truth and falsehood, history suggests that people believe falsehoods, because they need to for a variety of psychological or socio-cultural reasons. The Anatomy of Credulity and Incredulity: Or, a Hermeneutics of Misinformation, The Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) Misinformation Review, Volume 1, Issue 2 Received: March 2nd, 2020 Accepted: April 24, 2020 Published: April 30, 2020
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