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CarlJH t1_itvagch wrote

This is tangential to something called "epistemological intelligence", a concept explored by Stephen James Bartlett of Williamette University.

I think that intellectual humility is an important part of epistemological competence, i.e. the ability to accurately evaluate claims and assign some sort of realistic probability value to their truthfulness. For example, how likely is it that I would know better than an expert in a given field of study?

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Merfstick t1_ity6x9r wrote

Thanks for the tip. I've referred to that as "epistemological awareness" before, but never got too in depth with it; I've just over time become increasingly frustrated when people make claims that they do not seem to recognize the complexity involved in verifying (if possible at all), as well as fully understanding the constructs and limitations of the types of knowledge they're wielding.

An obvious example off the top being "there are no gays in Russia". Like, obviously a ridiculous statement, but also absurd to claim to know, even if it was somehow true because how on Earth are you going to gather that kind of data with integrity? You need access to peoples' lives we simply do not have. Further, "gayness" can manifest in a myriad of ways, so you have to first define a set of acts that you can actually bear witness to, then go about doing it. But gayness cannot always be seen, so you have to go about defining gayness in such a way that you can notice it. At that point, you might as well retroactively define it as exclusive to Russians. "Sure, Russian men might suck each other off, but that's not gay because they can't be gay, they're Russian!" It's all just absurd.

On the other side, being conscious of this (empowered by my irritability of dealing with it in others) has really dialed in my own thinking.

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Bakedpotato1212 t1_itve0ik wrote

He was allergic to an ingredient in the vaccine and his doctor advised him to not get it. But you knew that already right?

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MazerRackhem t1_itvlh7y wrote

Which he only claimed without evidence after it was discovered he lied about being vaccinated. Regardless, not all the vaccines have the ingredient he is supposedly allergic to. But you already knew that, right?

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CarlJH t1_itvlvy9 wrote

"Claimed" he was allergic.

Cough(bullshit)cough.

And that had absolutely nothing to do with my comment, which was addressed toward the subject of the blog post, that being the misapplication of critical thinking.

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