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Epistemic Vigilance
Author(s) -
SPERBER DAN,
CLÉMENT FABRICE,
HEINTZ CHRISTOPHE,
MASCARO OLIVIER,
MERCIER HUGO,
ORIGGI GLORIA,
WILSON DEIRDRE
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
mind and language
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.905
H-Index - 68
eISSN - 1468-0017
pISSN - 0268-1064
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-0017.2010.01394.x
Subject(s) - vigilance (psychology) , cognition , psychology , epistemology , cognitive science , cognitive psychology , philosophy , neuroscience
Humans massively depend on communication with others, but this leaves them open to the risk of being accidentally or intentionally misinformed. To ensure that, despite this risk, communication remains advantageous, humans have, we claim, a suite of cognitive mechanisms for epistemic vigilance. Here we outline this claim and consider some of the ways in which epistemic vigilance works in mental and social life by surveying issues, research and theories in different domains of philosophy, linguistics, cognitive psychology and the social sciences.