Karen Frost-Arnold, "Who Should We Be Online?: A Social Epistemology for the Internet" (Oxford UP, 2023)
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What is the central premise of Karen Frost‑Arnold’s book *Who Should We Be Online?*?
Hi everyone, this is Marshall Poe. I'm the founder of the New Books Network and I'm also a historian. I used to be a history professor and I love maps, so I'm especially happy to tell you that this episode is sponsored by What's Your Map, which was the winner of the Best Education Podcast at the 2025 British Podcast Awards. What's Your Map is hosted by historian and prize-winning author Professor Jerry Broughton. In each episode, he invites a guest to share a map close to their heart and unfurl the ideas, inspirations, and stories behind it. I can tell you I've listened and it's fascinating. The podcast is in its sixth series and is enjoyed by audiences around the globe. You can explore all the maps in the podcast online.
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Hello, and thanks for joining us for this episode of New Books in Philosophy, which is part of the New Books Network. I'm Robert Talese. I'm professor of philosophy at Vanderbilt University. I co-host the program with Carrie Figter, Malcolm Keating, and Sarah Tyson. My guest today is Karen Frost Arnold. Karen is associate professor of philosophy at Hobart and William Smith Colleges, and also visiting associate professor at the African Center for Epistemology and Philosophy of Science at the University of Johannesburg. She works centrally in the area of social epistemology, feminist philosophy, and philosophy of science. But one unifying theme of her research is the philosophy of the internet. Her new book has just been published with Oxford University Press.
It's titled, Who Should We Be Online? A Social Epistemology for the Internet. Now, I suppose that it goes without saying that the Internet plays a central role in how we communicate, how we share information, how we disseminate ideas, how we maintain our social connections, and even conduct business. I also suppose that it goes without saying that the internet exacerbates existing problems regarding irrationality, bias, wrongful discrimination, forms of exploitation and dehumanization. But the internet also gives rise to new ethical and epistemological problems. I'm thinking here of fake news, the phenomenon of sock puppetry, various kinds of hoaxes that are made possible by the Internet, and various forms of disinformation that also seem to be made possible by the Internet.
So in Who Should We Be Online, Karen Frost Arnold proposes a multi-layered social epistemology designed to assist us in navigating the fraught moral epistemic landscape of the online world. Along the way, she develops a framework for thinking about how we should go about investigating the normative questions that are posed by the internet. Now, as usual, there's a whole lot to talk about, a lot of good philosophical questions afoot. But as we usually begin, why don't we begin with our guest? Hello, Karen.
Hi, Bob. How are you doing? I'm doing great. How are you today? I'm good. I'm really looking forward to talking to you.
Well, I'm looking forward to talking to you too. I really, really enjoyed the book. But before we get to the book, you know, we begin these episodes with the author saying some things about herself. Why don't you start us off that way? Tell us a bit about yourself.
Thanks. Well, it might not be obvious from my accent, but I'm actually originally from Britain. All of my family is British, and I lived there till I was 12. When I was 12, we moved to California, and that's where I went to high school.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the central premise of Karen Frost‑Arnold’s book *Who Should We Be Online?*?
0:00–6:31
2
How does Frost‑Arnold’s personal background shape her view of internet epistemology?
6:31–14:24
3
What is the FOVIVI framework and how does it organize the book’s social‑epistemic tools?
14:24–24:07
4
How does the book apply feminist accounts of objectivity to online misinformation?
24:07–32:46
5
What ethical and epistemic problems arise from commercial content moderation?
32:46–40:46
6
How does Frost‑Arnold distinguish between online imposters and tricksters?
40:46–48:41
7
What is the role of “lurking” in online communities and how can it be virtuous?
48:41–56:09
8
What practical guidelines does the appendix offer for ethical internet research?
56:09–1:03:39
Speakers
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