New open access book 'How We Govern Our Minds Through Others'

How We Govern Our Minds Through Others: Epistemic Autonomy Beyond the Myth of Independence

Book cover shows a detail of a painting by Pieter Bruegel the Elder titled "Netherlandish Proverbs," featuring dozens of human figures, animals, and surreal scenes in a medieval village setting. The main title is printed at the top in large.

Epistemic autonomy worth valuing requires epistemic dependence on others, as well as on tools and technology.

In How We Govern Our Minds Through Others, J. Adam Carter and Neil Levy argue that epistemic autonomy worth valuing requires various kinds of epistemic dependence on others, as well as on tools and technology. Challenging the Cartesian ideal of self-sufficient knowledge acquisition, they show that epistemic dependence is both inevitable and beneficial. Self‑governance is mediated by social relationships and institutions; we manage our beliefs and attention through collaborations, trust, and the influence of others. What emerges is a reconceptualization of epistemic autonomy as deeply social and deeply scaffolded.

Integrating insights from philosophy, cognitive science, AI ethics, and media studies, the authors offer a positive, socially scaffolded conception of epistemic self‑governance. The topics they explore include epistemic autonomy in connection with hijacked attention, intellectual collaboration with others in group settings, artificial intelligence, first-hand insight, nudging and questioning, epistemic feedback loops, and adaptive control. Their arguments have ramifications for educators and designers of digital platforms, as well as those working in the emerging landscape of AI law, digital rights, and mental privacy.

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Open Access

The open access edition of this book was made possible by generous funding and support from MIT Press Direct to Open, and is made available under a CC BY-NC-ND International licence.

Read/download on MIT Press Direct to Open

Funder

The book is an output of an AHRC Grant 'Epistemic Autonomy' (AH/W005077/1). We are grateful to the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) for funding this collaborative project with the University of Glasgow.

Read more about the Epistemic Autonomy Project

Reviews

How We Govern Our Minds Through Others is well-researched, timely, and significant both within the discipline of philosophy as well as to neighboring disciplines. The chapters are well organized, the arguments are detailed, and the text is rich with examples. This book will be of great interest to professional philosophers, psychologists, and cognitive scientists and it should receive significant engagement from those working in epistemology. I can see numerous graduate seminars using this book as a central text.

~Jonathan Matheson, Professor of Philosophy, University of North Florida

Many people will consider reading this book simply because it is the latest from Levy and Carter, even if they weren’t already interested in the topic of epistemic autonomy. They produce cutting-edge work that powerfully shapes the debates to which they contribute. I will definitely be not only reading the book but writing about it as well.

~James R. Beebe, Professor, Department of Philosophy, State University of New York at Buffalo