1722. “Epistemology” is the study of how do you know what to believe.
1723. The first principle of epistemology is that the things you believe should not contradict each other. The purpose of logic is to discover contradictions. When considering whether to believe something, you should compare it to the things you already believe.
1724. A person can have a commitment to a belief. He may be emotionally committed to it. He may give time and money to support it. His reputation, his career, and his business and personal relationships may depend on it. Such commitments to a belief cause a person to resist changing his mind.
1725. A combination of related beliefs which support each other is called a “belief system”. It is much harder to change a whole belief system than to change one isolated belief. A shift from one belief system to another cannot be done in small steps.
1726. A proposition can be believed with different certainty levels: (1) seems likely, (2) opinion or belief, or (3) knowledge or certainty. Beyond that is (4) the certainty that the wall you are touching is there, and (5) the certainty that two plus two is four.
1727. Another way of measuring certainty level is to assign to a proposition a percentage probability that it is true.
1728. Your certainty level on something is modified by your degree of familiarity with the subject. How much new data, new information, new evidence, new theories, new statements of opinion from people you respect – how much new input would it take to change your certainty level? You may think you know something, but if someone you respect with regard to that subject says otherwise, you would easily change your mind. That is a low familiarity level. Or you may have studied the subject thoroughly and the certainty or lack of certainty with which you believe things in that subject does not change easily. That is a high familiarity level.
1729. Sometimes people believe things with certainty and stability, but the stability is not based on familiarity but on faith or dogma or blind belief or stubbornness or wishful thinking or the fact or belief that everyone else believes it. Sometimes belief is more an act of will than a result of rational thought.
1730. Some propositions are broad general principles. Some propositions are descriptions of what is happening and who is doing what. Some propositions are specific detailed facts. The detailed facts are evidence for or against the general propositions and for or against the descriptions of the situation and of the action.
1731. The basic philosophical doctrines that a person believes are extremely important to what detailed factual propositions he is willing to believe. For example, a Bible believing Christian will not believe any evidence about reincarnation because reincarnation is contrary to his basic beliefs. A materialist will not believe any evidence about non-materialistic phenomena because his basic beliefs say they cannot be real.
1732. The second principle of epistemology is that your estimate of the certainty of propositions and your estimate of the reliability of individuals influence each other. For example, if a proposition you are certain about is contradicted by someone you consider reliable on that subject, then your certainty will be reduced and your confidence in his reliability will be reduced. But if he agrees with you, then both your certainty and your confidence in him will increase.
1733. The ring of conviction and certainty in someone’s voice is very persuasive. This includes the salesman who believes his own sales pitch. This includes the dedicated true believer in some religious or political doctrine. This includes the so-called “scientist” who believes strongly in his materialistic doctrines.
1734. There are also those, notably in politics, for whom making impassioned and high-sounding speeches with great conviction is effortless and routine, but what is said bears no relationship to what is really happening.
1735. In estimating the reliability of an individual, it is very important to know what he is trying to do, or who he is working for.
1736. A person can pretend to hold a belief system which he does not. A person in a religious organization may no longer believe that religion, or he may have joined for personal wealth and power, or he may have joined as an enemy agent to subvert or destroy the organization. A politician may be working only for personal wealth and power, or he may be an agent of a rich businessman or of an enemy nation or of some other Conspiracy.
1737. The way to detect a person who does not believe what he says is by comparing what he says with what he does. The important actions which show his real purpose will be hidden. There will also be unimportant actions which are publicized and which agree with what he says. The important evil actions which he cannot hide, he will justify with bad arguments that make him look stupid. But he’s not really stupid. He’s really doing it on purpose.
1738. You do not understand a person until you know and can see by observing his actions what he is really trying to do.
1739. You do not understand a nation until you know and can see by observing its actions what it is really trying to do.
1740. Nations are ruled by men. Men are spiritual beings. Spiritual beings are ruled by purposes, not by mechanics. In order to understand men and nations, it is necessary to understand the purposes which give them direction.
1741. The third principle of epistemology is that the more you examine the evidence about a proposition for yourself, thoroughly and in detail, the less you need to rely on comparing that proposition to things you already believe and the less you need to rely on the opinions of others.
1742. The fourth principle of epistemology is that a good investigator and reporter will have a huge number of relevant facts. When he leaves out some details, the only reason will be that he was busy telling you so many other facts.
1743. A good investigator and reporter will not pound you with mindless slogans and expect your agreement and support just because of that.
1744. A good investigator and reporter will connect the detailed facts with the strategies and actions of the major players, and with the general principles that apply. Your understanding will increase.
1745. Honest scholars, historians, scientists, and investigators are extremely valuable. They can do an enormous amount of work examining in detail some subject and the evidence relating to questions in that subject.
1746. The problem with scholars, historians, scientists, and investigators is that they can be bought, like Government Officials. Then their studies and their research and their books will promote whatever ideas they are being paid to promote. Also, as with newspaper editors, you can simply hire the ones who already believe what you want them to believe.
1747. When two groups of scholars are in conflict, it is often difficult to know which group you should believe. You do not have time to spend years studying the subject for yourself.
1748. The fifth principle of epistemology is that when two scholars are in conflict, sometimes you can tell who to believe by observing which scholar is honest and which scholar is not.
1749. A dishonest scholar will present false data on the subject as true. He will say false things about his opponent to make his opponent look bad. He will use the unthinking conditioned reflexes of people to make his opponent look bad.
1750. When scholars are paid to promote false ideas which Super Rich men want people to believe, then they are compelled to sacrifice their honesty. This dishonesty is hard to see, except when it comes into conflict with an honest scholar.
1751. The sixth principle of epistemology is that when you discover definitely that some piece of evidence has been buried or destroyed or that some witness has been intimidated or silenced or killed, then that evidence or testimony, if any remains, must be given many times more importance than it would ordinarily be given. There are two reasons for this. First, there may be a lot of other evidence and many other witnesses which have been successfully eliminated and which you don’t know about. Second, someone powerful is trying to hide something and that person must know that it really is true.
1752. The elimination of evidence or of witnesses or their testimony also opens up a new and important second area of investigation: Who is trying to hide the truth about the first area of investigation? And why?
1753. A report that evidence or witnesses have been eliminated can itself be false. Those who are trying to hide the truth may be using methods which are devious, crafty, and complex.
1754. “Propaganda” is widely distributed communication put out by some powerful individual or group with the purpose of controlling or influencing how people think and feel about things.
1755. The world is blanketed with many thick layers of propaganda. Most people believe what they are told, which is the purpose of propaganda.
1756. Many people are proud of the fact that they do NOT believe what they are told. But such a person probably believes what someone else is telling him.
1757. More precisely, propaganda is like a set of radio stations. People tune in to and listen to the radio station they like best. And they believe that radio station.
1758. The Conspiracy is a beast with many heads and many voices.
1759. Propaganda is like advertising. You hear the same thing over and over and over. You need to treat it like advertising. Mostly you should ignore it.
1760. The number of times you hear some piece of propaganda is not an indication of how true it is. It’s an indication of how big the advertising budget is for that idea.
1761. Propaganda does not come like advertising in neat little bits that are easy to identify as advertising. Propaganda comes pretending to be news or commentary or entertainment or history or education or science. Sometimes it pretends to be religion or charity or work to improve society. For example, broadly speaking, the major “foundations” in America work mainly for the Conspiracy.
1762. Propaganda often comes claiming a high level of morality and righteousness. For example, this is true of Marx himself and of Communist and Leftist propaganda generally.
1763. Propaganda can be good as well as bad. The word “propaganda” is usually used to mean something bad. But that’s because good people often have the very false idea that trying to influence others is bad.
1764. If good men do not try to influence others, then only evil men will influence others. Evil men spend enormous fortunes advertising their lies to cause harm to the world. Good men should spend enormous fortunes advertising their good, true, and beneficial ideas.
1765. Forcing people to do anything is a denial of Liberty. Persuading and teaching people to do what is right and good is necessary and important.
1766. Evil men have no problem using force. But they can get so much more when they use deception and trickery as well.
1767. It is very important to be able to see good and bad in the same place. Good and evil are not black and white, they are quantitative. Any person or group has many different factors, features, and characteristics. Some may be good and some may be bad. The most virtuous man has some flaw. The most evil man has some impulse to do good.
1768. If you cannot see good and evil in the same place, then your ability to perceive and understand what is really happening will be severely limited.
1769. On any subject or question or person or group, if there is confusion or upset, it may be helpful to list all the positive arguments that you can think of on that subject (P1, P2, P3) and all the negative arguments you can think of on that subject (N1, N2, N3). Then you can see them all at once, instead of running around in circles in your head, back and forth, from one idea to another. If someone makes an argument, then you can see if it’s on your list. If it’s a good thought, and if it’s not on your list, then you can add it.
1770. Sometimes people really are too busy to explain something. They would rather continue their productive work than explain it further. They feel that earlier explanations and written explanations are sufficient. There is no obligation to explain something endlessly to someone who just isn’t getting it. The clue that something is wrong is when someone who is normally tolerant and patient and friendly is suddenly intolerant and impatient and unfriendly.
1771. If an explanation is not getting across, there are always two possibilities. One is that the person not getting it is uneducated or stupid or otherwise at fault for not getting it when he should. The other is that the person explaining it, or refusing to explain it further, is trying to sell some idea that is false or illogical or nonsensical or just a confused jumble of vague and unintelligible ideas.
1772. Very commonly teaching or explaining is done in a school environment or some other authoritative environment where the teacher or professor or other authority is assumed to be right. The teacher can use his rank and authority and power to squash the student and the student’s ideas. However, the teacher may still be wrong and the student may still be right. Rank, authority, and power are no proof that what is being said is right or true.
1773. Strong signs that something is not true include:
a. People say it is too obvious to have to explain.
b. People say if you don’t know, that shows your ignorance and stupidity.
c. You ask for an explanation, but people get mad at you for being so stupid instead of giving you an explanation.
d. People say “Everyone knows.”, or “Everyone agrees with me.”, without giving any details.
e. People refer to authority without answering your objections. Authorities include doctors, professors, government officials and agencies, and so forth.
f. People tell you that you will understand much later when you “grow up”, or when you complete 10 more years of education, or when you read 49 more books, or when you do something else that will take many years.
g. People who are ordinarily sensible and coherent give you an explanation that is vague and incomprehensible.
h. People who ordinarily have time for you are suddenly “too busy” or “don’t have time” to listen to what you have to say about it, or to talk to you about it, or to read what you have written about it. They say that they have been over it many times, and that you are too stupid to understand it.
i. People who are ordinarily friendly give you long explanations of your many shortcomings, how ignorant and stupid you are, how ill-mannered and obnoxious you are, how self-centered and ethically questionable you are, how people put up with you because of their generosity which you don’t deserve, and how that generosity is liable to come to an end in the very near future.
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This article is Chapter 60 in LIBERTY FOR ALL MEN EVERYWHERE – The Theory And Practice Of Freedom by Dale Samson. This book is available at http://www.libfame.com.
© Copyright 2010 Dale Richard Samson. Partial quotations of this chapter are permitted with attribution. Cite source as Dale Samson's LIBERTY FOR ALL MEN EVERYWHERE at http://www.libfame.com.