Topics with Tag: Epistemology

How Do We Gain Knowledge and Beliefs?

Misinformation, propaganda and fake news don't spread themselves. If we have a problem of misinformation in the world, it means that we have a problem of people spreading misinformation because they lack the critical thinking skills to distinguish between reliable and unreliable information. What are the correct and incorrect ways of figuring out what to believe? Is science reliable? How do we distinguish between real science and fake science? Are intuition, tradition or revelation reliable? How do we arrive at value judgments like right and wrong?

When you went to school you learned that the primary colors are red, yellow and blue, that atoms are tiny dots with electron dots spinning around them, that the Earth is a sphere, that animal fats are bad while vegetable fats are good, and that you think with your brain and feel with your heart. These are convenient fictions - claims that are inaccurate, but true enough for our purposes. But how should we handle a person who says it helps them believe in ideas that are objectively false? For example: a person who believes that astrology makes sense of their life, that visualizing chakras helps them deal with their emotions or that homeopathy makes them feel better?

The Limits of Rationality

Rationality means that your beliefs conform with your reasons to believe. It has gifted us many shiny and wonderful things like the scientific method, fairer justice systems and overall better decision making techniques. But it is only a means to an end; it cannot tell us what we should value or how we should measure progress.

Advancements in Pseudointellectualism

Pseudointellectualism means fake intellectualism; it means that someone is not only spreading lies, but that the lies appear more "intelligent" than the truth. Pseudointellectuals appeal to our ego. They satiate our desire to "feel" smart and allow us to enjoy this feeling without facing the challenge of real intellectual thought. Who are the fake intellectuals? Who are the real ones? And how do we know?

How Do You Know?

The study of knowledge and how to achieve accuracy in understanding the world is called epistemology, and a basic course in how to interpret facts and information is sadly lacking in our education. So let's talk about the mistakes we make, and how we could become better at forming our understanding of the world.