TY - CHAP
T1 - Epistemic value theory and the digital divide
AU - Fallis, Don
N1 - Copyright:
Copyright 2014 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2006
Y1 - 2006
N2 - The digital divide refers to inequalities in access to information technology. Those people who do not have access to information technology are at a significant economic and social disadvantage. As with any other policy decision, in order to evaluate policies for dealing with the digital divide, we need to know exactly what our goal should be. Since the principal value of access to information technology is that it leads to knowledge, work in epistemology can help us to clarify our goal in the context of the digital divide. In this chapter, I argue that epistemic value theory can help us to determine which distribution of knowledge to aim for Epistemic value theory cannot specify a particular distribution to aim for, but it can significantly narrow down the range of possibilities. Additionally, I indicate how the exercise of applying epistemic value theory to the case of the digital divide furthers work in epistemology.
AB - The digital divide refers to inequalities in access to information technology. Those people who do not have access to information technology are at a significant economic and social disadvantage. As with any other policy decision, in order to evaluate policies for dealing with the digital divide, we need to know exactly what our goal should be. Since the principal value of access to information technology is that it leads to knowledge, work in epistemology can help us to clarify our goal in the context of the digital divide. In this chapter, I argue that epistemic value theory can help us to determine which distribution of knowledge to aim for Epistemic value theory cannot specify a particular distribution to aim for, but it can significantly narrow down the range of possibilities. Additionally, I indicate how the exercise of applying epistemic value theory to the case of the digital divide furthers work in epistemology.
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U2 - 10.4018/978-1-59140-968-7.ch002
DO - 10.4018/978-1-59140-968-7.ch002
M3 - Chapter
AN - SCOPUS:84899222273
SN - 9781591409687
SP - 29
EP - 46
BT - Information Technology and Social Justice
PB - IGI Global
ER -