News is vital for a healthy democracy. Collective decision-making requires accurate, reliable information. Nevertheless, much of the information we encounter is inadequate for this task. And some--peddled by politicians, profiteers, bots and algorithms--is fake. Social media platforms and emerging technologies allow fake news to dominate our information landscape. An adequate understanding our current information landscape calls for a new discipline, the epistemology of fake news. The epistemology of fake news studies knowledge communication under imperfect conditions. This book is the first sustained inquiry into the new epistemology of fake news. The chapters, authored by established and emerging names in the field, pursue three goals. First, to analyse the meaning and novelty of 'fake news' and related notions, such as 'conspiracy theory.' Second, to discuss the mechanics of fake news, exploring various practices that generate or promote fake news. Third, to investigate potential therapies for fake news.

Sven Bernecker is Humboldt Professor of Philosophy at the University of Cologne and Professor of Philosophy at the University of California, Irvine. Besides Germany and the USA, he held tenured academic positions in Austria and the UK. He obtained his PhD in Philosophy in 1997 at Stanford University and the Habilitation in 2002 at the University of Munich.
Amy K. Flowerree is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Texas Tech University. Previously, she was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Center for Contemporary Epistemology and the Kantian Tradition (CONCEPT) at the University of Cologne. She completed her PhD in philosophy at Northwestern University in 2017.
Thomas Grundmann is professor of philosophy at the University of Cologne since 2004. Before that he held academic positions in Tübingen and Saarbruecken. He obtained his PhD in Philosophy in 1991 and the Habilitation in 200, both at the University of Tuebingen.