H. B. Phillips: “It is presumptuous for any one to take his own feeling of mental certainty as final evidence that he is right.” Credit: Courtesy of the MIT Museum

In this article, Simson L. Garfinkel explores Wikipedia's epistemology and discovers that, far from being the free-for-all its detractors portray it as, the world's most popular reference is decidedly rigid. In its effort to ensure accuracy, Wikipedia relies entirely on "verifiability," requiring that all factual claims include a citation to another published source (preferably online, prefera­bly in English). As a result, Garfinkel argues, "on Wikipedia, truth is received truth: the consensus view of a subject."

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