An Epistemic Defense of the Blogosphere Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

An Epistemic Defense of the Blogosphere - Article Example Goldman is one of them. In the given paper we will evaluate the statement of Alvin Goldman and his opponent David Coady. In order to understand the position of Goldman, it is necessary to recollect his approach to knowledge and the truth. He states that the information people read in blogs lacks evidences. Goldman criticizes the post modernistic directions in epistemology. He defines an interesting approach to the notion of truth. According to Goldman, the truth should be verified by the evidences. He applies mathematics working out the basics for generic social practices. He uses the Bayes theorem, which states about the probability of the event A only if the event B took place. The application of the theorem by Goldman states about the probability of the event (A=X) if there is an evidence B, which testifies that X happened. Thus, everything should be verified, and before talking about something a person should possess the definite degree of knowledge about it. And blogging in its turn usually lacks this necessary degree of knowledge in comparison with traditional media. Thus, Goldman is afraid that journalism as a serious profession is disappearing due to blogging. His thoughts on the topic are clearly stated in his work The Social Epistemology of Blogging. â€Å"For the acquisition of knowledge to occur, it isn’t sufficient that there be a free press that publishes or broadcasts the relevant truths. It is equally critical that members of the public receive and believe those truths. If truths are published but not read, or published and read but not believed, the public won’t possess the information (or knowledge) that is important for making correct decisions† (Goldman, p. 3). David Coady is one of the critics of Goldman’s opinion about blogging. He states that there is no significant difference between conventional media and blogging. He considers blogging to be just electronic reflection of traditional media.