Anthony Magnabosco offers a comprehensive guide to starting your journey with Street Epistemology (SE), including a wide range of resources and communities where you can dive deeper into this engaging method.

11 October 2020

There have never been more resources and communities available to people interested in learning Street Epistemology than today. These options for understanding the method also serve as entry points for people who have never heard of it before. It fascinates me when I hear people report that their first exposure to Street Epistemology (SE) may have been a chat they had with someone in virtual reality or in the comments section of a TikTok video.

Most are pleasantly surprised when they learn there are also books, videos, and robust communities that have formed over the years around this exciting method.

Since there are now so many potential entry points into Street Epistemology, it could be a bit confusing for people who have discovered the method, want to learn more about it, but don’t know where to go next. I’m hopeful this blog post will serve as a “road map” and outline some of the directions one can head in order to start soaking things in.

These are not listed in any particular order. Select what you think works best for you.

The Website

One of the first places anyone wanting to learn more about Street Epistemology should be the SE Website. While the site itself is not particularly magnetic, it’s a good place to familiarize yourself with some of the basics of Street Epistemology before launching off into the various SE communities.

In addition to finding links to pretty much everything I plan to mention in this blog post, the website addresses many of the basic questions people unfamiliar with Street Epistemology may have. Here you can find answers to frequently asked questions, watch the featured SE video of the month, read blog posts from people in the SE community, and even find a store that offers SE-themed merchandise.

Originally fan-managed, the SE Website and domain name are now owned by the non-profit that was created in 2019 called Street Epistemology International.

The Books

Street Epistemology got its start with A Manual for Creating Atheists in 2013 and a much-needed update in 2019 with How to Have Impossible Conversations. Interestingly, both books barely mention "Street Epistemology," yet the concepts promoted in both books are foundational to the method.

Given the choice, I'd suggest reading Boghossian's most recent book, as it's broader in scope and includes more specific suggestions on how to apply the technique. It's not uncommon, however, to meet accomplished practitioners who have never read either book, so don't beat yourself up if you haven't had time to investigate those yet.

I personally think there may be a need for a more comprehensive book on Street Epistemology that covers the genesis, history, application, and potential of the approach. Maybe one day soon I'll put something together.

YouTube Channels

Videos of people practicing Street Epistemology began surfacing around 2014. These discussions provided a stark contrast between the argumentative examples between theists and atheists that dominated the landscape. While in retrospect many of these video examples were fairly crude, recommendations from viewers (often from people with experience in philosophy, psychology, psychotherapy, and linguistics [to name a few]) helped many practitioners improve their interactions.

While videos take more time to consume, they are often an entertaining way to learn Street Epistemology by simply observing a few interactions. If time permits, try to scroll down and read the video comments, where you can really get a sense of how these talks are impacting observers and the practitioners of the approach.

The number of people uploading videos related to Street Epistemology seems to ebb and flow, and I personally cannot get enough of them. Watching examples where someone is using SE with another person to explore their claim can both be entertaining and educational. There’s something incredible about watching a person think about their thoughts that really highlights the potential of the SE approach.

It's also quite encouraging to see people outside of the community discussing Street Epistemology—the technique is slowly getting noticed and is drawing lots of attention. Oftentimes, from surprising sources.

In addition to following your favorite SE Content Creators individually, you can find an active list of current SE videos in the SE Latest Releases Playlist, which is managed by volunteers to help keep it updated.

If you do have time to review the comments section of SE videos, please engage with the content creator, offer suggestions to them for improvement, and dialogue with others who have also left comments—all of this activity can help make SE better.

Also, sharing one of your favorite SE videos with friends and family is another way to generate discussion, model reflective thinking, and promote respectful discourse.

Speaking as a video content creator myself, it's been nice to see the camaraderie between people who record and upload their SE talks to YouTube. Practitioners tend to have different styles, venue considerations, and even cultural differences that keep things interesting. If you do happen to stumble across a Street Epistemology video, please try to leave constructive feedback for the originator to read, as well as anyone else who may happen by later. I think critical yet supportive feedback is crucial to our growth.

TikTok

It’s been really exciting to see Street Epistemology taking hold on this particular platform because lots of people of all ages are on it and the medium itself seems to inspire creativity. The video clips on TikTok are usually 30 seconds or less in duration, often include snippets of popular music, and showcase people saying or doing something interesting.

Despite the "short burst" nature of most videos, this platform is great for taking complicated topics—something we often observe when doing Street Epistemology—and making them simple and digestible for viewers.

Doing a search from within the TikTok app for the hashtag #streetepistemology will help you find active SE content creators, and is a great way to passively learn the method while being entertained along the way. I am very encouraged with this platform in particular as a way to introduce people to Street Epistemology in entertaining ways.

Discord

Discord is basically an online forum with a layout similar to a Windows Explorer file system, where instead of folders you have topic-themed channels where other people around the world can text, voice, or video chat.

You've probably heard people talking about this platform, but don't know much about it. I didn't either until about a year or so ago. It apparently started off as a place for gamers to gather while playing online games, but the potential of this platform for the Street Epistemology community cannot be overstated.

Anyone can create a Discord "server" and invite people to it. The largest SE-themed Discord server (just over 4,000 members at the time of this writing) has channels where people discuss SE, coordinate with teams working on SE-related projects, practice SE through role-play and real conversations, and even share their audio or video of their live interactions.

One of my favorite channels is #introduce-yourself, where you can read how people from around the world first encountered Street Epistemology and how it has impacted their interactions. Although it takes a while to get comfortable navigating, the SE-themed Discord servers are my number one recommendation for anyone looking to find other people to engage with about this method.

It will be interesting to see if Discord has the ability to scale alongside the increasing popularity of Street Epistemology.

Facebook Groups and Page

Although SE activity on this platform has seemingly waned a bit from its highs a year or so ago, it's still a great place to meet others and share your experiences.

There are currently four main groups and one page that you should be aware of, each with a slightly different focus to keep things organized:

• Street Epistemology Study Group (Private group, 5.4K members): This was the first Facebook group created for people interested in Street Epistemology, and since the method was originally marketed to atheists only, that restriction for membership still applies. Most discussions center around the application of Street Epistemology. Make sure you answer any intake questions before submitting your Join Request.
• Learn Street Epistemology (Private group, 2.1K members): As Street Epistemology expanded to explore other claims, a group similar to the Study Group was created for people wanting to learn more about the method, independent of where you happen to stand on any claim.
• Chat With a Street Epistemologist (Private group, 1.3K members): This is the place for actually practicing Street Epistemology with someone on their claim. Although eclipsed by the aforementioned Discord servers, this is still a good place to go if you'd like to have one of your beliefs respectfully challenged, role-play a conversation you're thinking about having with someone, or just practice.
• Critique Street Epistemology (Public group, 500 members): A specific group dedicated to discussing criticisms and concerns about the method. Most of this type of discussion has also moved to the SE Discord servers, but you may still see an occasional post here or there.

There is also a public Facebook Page for Street Epistemology that makes general posts about SE-related events or topics, but it's not a very interactive place.

Reddit

With just under 10,000 members at the time of this writing, the Street Epistemology subreddit is a great place to keep up with our antics. While I personally don't frequent this platform all that much, it seems like an underutilized resource that could benefit from some coordinated attention. It would be great to see a lot more SE discussions and activity on this search-engine crawled community.

The Street Epistemology Podcast

Audio only examples of Street Epistemology have been uploaded since 2015, and at the time of this writing, had more than 570k plays. The SE Podcast is available on a variety of different podcasting platforms and is a great way to keep up with Street Epistemology.

The podcast not only airs examples where SE is being used, but blog posts, related shows, interviews with practitioners and members of the SE community, and much more. Each episode is currently played approximately 1,200 times.

If you have been following the SE Podcast for a while, please consider leaving a review and/or comment for others who stop by to take a listen.

Members of Your Own Tribe

As Street Epistemology grows in popularity, there's a good chance a few people within your own groups of personal interest have also heard of it. A great place to practice and introduce people to SE are the very clubs and communities and groups that you are already a part of. This could be groups formed around knitting, guns, social justice, activism, politics, etc. Imagine the dialectical advantages your group can enjoy if they started to employ the SE toolset in their interactions!

Conclusion

That’s a pretty comprehensive list of the resources and communities that are currently available for people who are interested in learning more about Street Epistemology.

I'm hopeful that you will consider interacting with people in these places to develop a better understanding of what we're trying to build and accomplish with Street Epistemology, and in the process, help us create something even better.

Anthony Magnabosco is a practitioner and promoter of Street Epistemology and is the current Executive Director of Street Epistemology International.

Source: Anthony Magnabosco

The Street Epistemology Podcast and The Street Epistemology Blog is a production of Street Epistemology International. The views, guests, and topics expressed here (or not expressed here) do not necessarily represent those of the organization.

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