The Wikipedia: Knowledge as social, fallible, externalist and holistic

Abstract

Knowledge has often been conceived in an individualistic, internalist and
intellectualist manner. In this paper we use the example of the Wikipedia and other
Internet resources to argue for an alternative, social, fallibilist, externalist and
holistic conception. We analyze issues concerning the reliability of publicly
constructed bodies of information and extract conclusions for some central debates in
epistemology, such as the sceptical challenge, the sources of normative evaluation,
the role played by the community and the world in the constitution of knowledge or
the intelligibility of a radical mistaken thinker. The paper finishes by offering
some connections between these epistemological consequences and ideas found in the
philosophy of Socrates, Davidson and Wittgenstein.