social epistemology
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Thoughtlets. LXXV. The people you rely on for your survival, delectation, AND companionship.
I define a tribe as those people you rely on for your survival, delectation, AND companionship. They’re your peeps. You can name them! [Excerpt from a footnote in my archives, 2019] I refer to those people who know you peed the bed until you were 12, not because you told them but because they slept Continue reading
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Doing our doxastic labour together (vetting candidates for beliefs with our peeps), 3 of 4: Building a model of the world is a community project.
Recall my project here, Doing our doxastic labour together (vetting candidates for beliefs with our peeps), 1 of 4 Here I lay out some “bones” for thinking about the way — the why and the how — the people we depend on for our survival, delectation, and companionship (our peeps) help us navigate the world. Continue reading
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Doing our doxastic labour together (vetting candidates for beliefs with our peeps) 2 of 4: Survival & Companionship
To find out what I’m up to here, see : Doing our doxastic labour together (vetting candidates for beliefs with our peeps) 1 of 4 *I’ve checked the links below to ensure they are active as of Jan 16, 2025 Often times we pick up facts that appear useful or interesting and bring them back Continue reading
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Doing our doxastic labour together (vetting candidates for beliefs with our peeps) 1 of 4
This post is comprised of some slightly retooled old work (published in 2019, then unpublished). It might just win the banality award (although it’s made some people angry). But some might find it interesting. Some of my references are a bit out of date now, but are still useful. Note: Doxa is belief or opinion. Continue reading
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What’s in a name? A face, a voice, laughter, habits brought readily to mind.
The names of the people we love are like beads on a Rosary, well-worn worry stones oft-fondled for comfort and reassurance. Continue reading
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Fist Pumping.
I’ve here in mind the fist-pumping variety of politically vocal people, those certain that one side is leading us to another dark ages and the other to a totalitarian state. It appears that for some “left and right” thinking is characterized by black and white thinking. Nuance is lost. And with this loss, so too Continue reading
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The Art of Rhetoric: Working through the challenges and disagreements that arise from our shared lives. Series 4.3.
In my previous post, I suggest Daniel Kahneman’s Thinking, Fast and Slow and Jonathan Haidt’s The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion are complementary reads. Why? Because a study of Haidt’s moral theory alongside Kahneman’s work on our cognitive/perceptual errors and biases might well make the barriers to both offering and receiving criticism Continue reading
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Thinking, Fast and Slow. (And 2 worries.)Series 4.2.
Some of my books have well-worn pages, others are falling apart from use. The books I use heavily are usually those I think worth giving others. And so I do. I peruse used-book shops and thrift stores to stock my library with multiple copies. This way, I often have a book on hand to share. If Continue reading
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The Righteous Mind. Series 4.1.
My husband, Paul, and I host a weekly reading group. We read one book in the fall, another in the spring. This past spring we read Jonathan Haidt’s The Righteous Mind which, week after week, generated the best discussions we’ve had to date. (Note that I’m not doing a comprehensive book review here.) Haidt notes that Continue reading
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Social Epistemology, 5 Short Examples (suitable for a class)
You can’t fact check every little thing and still have friends. Can you imagine what a jerk I’d be if I insisted on fact checking everything everyone says to me? Tammy: I went to the mall this morning. Pam: Did you now. Which mall? Tammy: THE mall. The only mall in town. Pam: How do Continue reading
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