Russell Varley

I am a Philosophy PhD candidate working out of the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities (IASH). My research, in the field of Social Epistemology, applies social knowledge-­‐making standards to particular cases of controversial public deliberation (such as that which occurs within the Intellectual Dark Web) and prescribes specific institutional regulations to help filter out those cases which are least likely to valuably contribute to the knowledge-­‐making objectives of public deliberation. My work contributes to the institutional strengthening of public deliberation by requiring deliberators and their prospective topics to meet epistemic threshold criteria. This requirement helps to ensure that public deliberative institutions are not saddled with gratuitous, bad faith, or poorly justified discussion. Prior to my commencement with UQ, I received a BA in Philosophy and Sociology, and an MRes in Analytic Philosophy from Macquarie University.

My Principal Advisor is Emeritus Prof Fred D’Agostino