Endogenous Epistemic Factionalization
Social and Information Networks
2020-05-04 v2 Physics and Society
Abstract
Why do people who disagree about one subject tend to disagree about other subjects as well? In this paper, we introduce a model to explore this phenomenon of "epistemic factionization". Agents attempt to discover the truth about multiple propositions by testing the world and sharing evidence gathered. But agents tend to mistrust evidence shared by those who do not hold similar beliefs. This mistrust leads to the endogenous emergence of factions of agents with multiple, highly correlated, polarized beliefs.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1812.08131,
title = {Endogenous Epistemic Factionalization},
author = {James Owen Weatherall and Cailin O'Connor},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1812.08131},
year = {2020}
}
Comments
23 pages, 10 figures. Forthcoming in Synthese