http://reagle.org/joseph/blog/social/wikipedia/shapin-civility Joseph Reagle http://reagle.org/joseph/blog/social/wikipedia/shapin-civility Copyright 2003-2010 Joseph Reagle PyBlosxom http://pyblosxom.sourceforge.net/ 1.4.3 01/10/2008 2006-08-18T15:44:39Z http://reagle.org/joseph/blog/2006/08/18/shapin-civility 2006-08-18T15:44:39Z 2006-08-18T15:44:39Z <p>Doug Morris, recommended Shapin's (1994) <em>A Social History of Truth</em> which I found very interesting in light of my interest with politeness. Shapin makes an ethno-historical argument that "knowledge is a collective good" of moralistic interdependence. Earlier, the free action and virtue of a gentleman garnered trust as there were no external pressures which could cause him to "shift" his views. (Though critics might argue that the gentleman's privileged status certainly biased his perspective.) In modernity, it is now the institutions which have moral authority to make truth claims. Interestingly, in the Wikipedia community, where I argue notions of good faith and civility are key, they do not rely upon the premodern performance of civility to represent social standing and consequently the ability to legitimate knowledge. Rather, truth emerges from civil discourse between people who may be strangers. Furthermore, Wikipedia is controversial from the modern perspective because it does not rely upon the "system trust" of institutions. Instead, it is civility itself that now generates truth, rather than being a proxy for social standing or institutional affiliation. (My argument is a little too strong, because Wikipedia does derive legitimacy for its claims from its sources, which are part of the modern institutional system trust.)</p>