Know-It-All Society : Truth and Arrogance in Political Culture

Taking stock of our fragmented political landscape, celebrated philosopher and TED speaker Michael Patrick Lynch argues that we are becoming a culture of dogmatic know-it-alls. The spread of what Lynch calls "epistemic arrogance" makes us think we have nothing to learn from one another, rewards an unbending commitment to one's own opinions, and glorifies a defensive rejection of those who are different. Synthesizing years of research, Lynch offers a philosophical perspective on this crisis of arrogance in the age of the Internet. Delving deeply into three core ideas-overconfidence in our knowledge, the politics that feed off this tendency, and the way our social media encourages the supposed "end of truth"-Lynch offers solutions for how we, individually and collectively, can reverse this dangerous trend. A bracing and thought-provoking work, Know-It-All Society holds a mirror up to American culture and reveals the sources of our fragmentation to launch a powerful argument for the value of humility.