Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/31864 
Authors: 
Year of Publication: 
2006
Series/Report no.: 
Papers on Economics and Evolution No. 0609
Publisher: 
Max Planck Institute of Economics, Jena
Abstract: 
In "monopoly epistemics”, one privileged actor is asked to identify the truth. In “democratic epistemics”, several independent parties are asked. In an experiment contrasting them, democratic epistemics reduced the systemic error rate by two-thirds, supporting the claim that replacing monopoly epistemics with democratic epistemics would reduce error rates in forensic science and other areas. It also suggests first, the potential of “epistemic systems design”, which employs the techniques of economic systems design to address issues of veracity, rather than efficiency, and second, the value of “experimental epistemology”, which employs experimental techniques in the study of science. Research of the sort described here puts evolutionary epistemology into practice by seeking to find the proper design principles for error-correcting social institutions.
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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