PD1 on Epistemology

By Redditor Potato_Donkey_1

I think that most here are interested in

Epistemology as a core activity for human

beings.

We know that there's a difference between

believing and knowing. We know that humans are emotional beings, and than an appeal to emotion will often win out over an appeal to reason. So we want to pursue a daily understanding of how reason and evidence work.

The more one knows about evidence, reason, and the scientific method that grows out of them, the more one has to recognize

uncertainty and the limits of knowledge.

Speaking just for myself, I see absolute

certainty as a destructive force in the world.

Dictators do enormous damage to their

societies and ultimately themselves by being

certain, by not inviting doubt or diverse

perspectives. Murder in the name of religion

isn't committed by religious free thinkers, but by those who are absolutely certain that they know the precise will of God. Asking how we know what we know makes us kinder, wiser, and closer to the kind of being that Jesus asked his followers to be. That is, question is an antidote for arrogance.