Citation: Durán, J.M. (Forthcoming). Against epistemic transparency of algorithms. Philosophy of Science. https://doi.org/10.1017/psa.2026.10246.

Abstract: Epistemic transparency is often proposed as a solution to algorithmic opacity, wherein revealing the inner logic of an algorithm provides reasons or supporting evidence for the justification of its outputs. I argue that transparency is defective in belief formation and thus inadequate as an epistemology of algorithms. Two objections are developed: transparency regress and bootstrapping, both rooted in transparency’s status as a time-sliced, “outsourced” inferentialist epistemology. While weaker forms—such as contextual transparency—are briefly considered, the central argument remains that transparency fails to provide justification and should be abandoned as an epistemology of algorithms.