Can Memes Be Considered a Form of Epistemology?
Memes are everywhere. From Doge to Distracted Boyfriend to This Is Fine, these visual nuggets of humor seem simple but they pack a surprising punch. But obviously memes are more than just jokes. They actually are carriers of knowledge - a kind of digital epistemology that shapes how we think, share, and understand the world?
Epistemology, or the study of knowledge, typically asks weighty questions: What is truth? How do we justify belief? And what counts as knowledge? For centuries, philosophers like Plato and Descartes have orbited around these issues. But memes, with their humor, irony, and rapid spread, challenge traditional notions of knowledge. As Marshall McLuhan famously said:
“The medium is the message.”
Memes are a medium that not only communicates but also constructs meaning.
So, let’s dive into the surprising ways memes could function as a modern epistemology by exploring their role in collective knowledge, identity, and critique.
What Is Epistemology, and How Do Memes Fit In?
First of all, what even is epistemology?
Epistemology is the branch of philosophy concerned with knowledge—what it is, how it’s justified, and how we acquire it. Thinkers like Plato described knowledge as "justified true belief," while Descartes approached it by doubting everything until he reached a single certainty:
“I think, therefore I am.”
But memes don’t play by these rules. They don’t justify themselves with evidence or argumentation. Instead, they rely on shared cultural understanding, humor, and visual shorthand to convey meaning. In doing so, memes challenge epistemology’s traditional boundaries.
Like Mr. Meme, himself, Richard Dawkins, who coined the term ‘meme’ in his book The Selfish Gene.
Dawkins described memes as cultural units - or in other words, ideas, behaviors, or styles - that replicate and evolve like genes. So that means that memes are more than just jokes; they’re cultural artifacts that carry, adapt, and transmit knowledge across social groups.
Memes as Collective Knowledge
Memes thrive in what philosophers like Lacan and Baudrillard would call the Symbolic Order. This is the domain of shared symbols and meaning. They’re not just images; they’re signifiers loaded with cultural significance.
Take the NPC Wojak meme, which critiques conformity in an algorithm-driven world. And it resonates because we collectively understand the anxieties it reflects. In Lacanian terms, this meme functions within the Symbolic Order by pointing to our shared fears about individualism and agency in a world increasingly shaped by technology.
Jean Baudrillard’s simulacrum is another useful lens here.
According to Baudrillard, simulacra don’t just represent reality; they create hyperrealities where the copy becomes more real than the original. And, memes, in this sense, are hyperreal. They take snippets of reality—like a reaction to a news event or a cultural trope—and amplify them into their own realities.
The Double-Edged Sword of Simplicity
Roland Barthes described cultural myths as "shortcuts" that simplify complex ideas.
Memes do much the same, which gives them power, but also danger.
For instance, This Is Fine, which is a meme showing a cartoon dog sipping coffee in a burning room, captures a collective sense of absurd complacency in the face of crisis. It’s brilliant in its simplicity. But, unfortunately, simplicity can also distort.
Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer, in The Culture Industry, warned that mass-produced culture often serves ideology.
Memes, like pop culture, can reinforce dominant ideologies while masking their origins. For example, propaganda memes reduce nuanced political discourse into binary oppositions—good versus evil, us versus them.
Michel Foucault’s concept of ‘regimes of truth’ is particularly relevant here.
Memes aren’t neutral; their production and spread are shaped by power structures. Foucault would likely ask: What memes go viral? Who controls the platforms where they circulate? So…Memes can enlighten, but they can also manipulate.
Memes, Identity, and Desire
Memes don’t just communicate ideas. They also build and reinforce identities. And Subcultures thrive on memes, from niche Reddit communities to TikTok trends.
Slavoj Žižek might argue that memes are expressions of ‘ideological fantasies.’
They reflect not who we are but who we wish to be. Or, worse, who we fear becoming. For example, wholesome memes promoting self-care reveal a collective longing for kindness and validation, while nihilistic memes reflect anxieties about meaninglessness.
In Lacanian psychoanalysis, memes operate in the Imaginary Order.
They construct idealized versions of ourselves and our communities. At the same time, they act as mirrors, reflecting back the Other - those outside our in-group - and shape how we define ourselves against them.
Memes as Tools of Critique
Memes also serve as a form of cultural critique. Consider Late Stage Capitalism memes, which highlight the absurdities of consumer culture. These memes echo themes from Fredric Jameson’s Postmodernism, because they expose the contradictions of a world where everything, even suffering, is commodified.
Or look at memes about climate change, which often blend humor and despair. These memes resonate with Mark Fisher’s concept of ‘capitalist realism.’
They articulate the feeling that there is no alternative to our current system, even as they critique its failures.
Memes like these act as what Antonio Gramsci might call ‘cultural hegemony in reverse.’
They resist dominant narratives by using the same tools, including humor, irony, and mass appeal, to dismantle them.
Are Memes a Legitimate Form of Knowledge?
So, can memes be considered epistemology? I think Jacques Derrida might argue that they can, because memes deconstruct traditional hierarchies of knowledge, privileging multiplicity, play, and context over fixed meaning.
However, at the same time, memes resist the permanence we associate with traditional knowledge systems. They’re ephemeral, participatory, and often incoherent, which makes them accessible but also fragmented. More like fragments of collective thought than structured epistemological frameworks.
The Future of Meme Epistemology
So…as memes continue to evolve, they’ll reshape not just how we communicate but also how we think. And again…they’re so much more than jokes; they’re living artifacts of our collective consciousness.
So, the next time you laugh at a meme, ask yourself: What truth is it revealing? What ideology is it concealing? And what does it say about us as a culture?
So in brief, memes are knowledge, not in the traditional sense, but as dynamic, evolving fragments of collective meaning. And in a world saturated with information, they might just be the perfect medium for navigating the chaos.
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Bibliography
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Barthes, Roland. Mythologies. Translated by Annette Lavers, Hill and Wang, 1972.
Baudrillard, Jean. Simulacra and Simulation. Translated by Sheila Faria Glaser, University of Michigan Press, 1994.
Dawkins, Richard. The Selfish Gene. Oxford University Press, 1976.
Derrida, Jacques. Writing and Difference. Translated by Alan Bass, University of Chicago Press, 1978.
Fisher, Mark. Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative? Zero Books, 2009.
Foucault, Michel. Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison. Translated by Alan Sheridan, Vintage Books, 1995.
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