The root of the problem is that human reasoning is not in the first instance aimed at truth; it’s a social competence aimed at solidifying our reputation in our group. The corollary to that is that we are evolutionarily primed to be good at recognizing biases in others and bad at acknowledging our own.
The root of the problem is that human reasoning is not in the first instance aimed at truth; it’s a social competence aimed at solidifying our reputation in our group. The corollary to that is that we are evolutionarily primed to be good at recognizing biases in others and bad at acknowledging our own.
This leads to this phenomenon where people believe they are polarized around questions of what is True, when really they are largely engaging in ingroup-outgroup coalitional behaviors.
Of course, the ultimate answer to this is empiricism. Which is why the current academic fad of radical scientific relativism is so toxic.
"Anyone who believes that the laws of physics are mere social conventions is invited to try transgressing those conventions from the windows of my apartment. I live on the twenty-first floor."
David Stove (Anything Goes: The Cult of Scientific Irrationalism) points out that these cultural relativists always leave themselves an out; basically they don’t really believe what they write. They believe in having air conditioning in their house that performs according to the ideal gas law, and then go to work and write that science is just a cultural artifact of the west, no better than any other culture.
The root of the problem is that human reasoning is not in the first instance aimed at truth; it’s a social competence aimed at solidifying our reputation in our group. The corollary to that is that we are evolutionarily primed to be good at recognizing biases in others and bad at acknowledging our own.
This leads to this phenomenon where people believe they are polarized around questions of what is True, when really they are largely engaging in ingroup-outgroup coalitional behaviors.
Of course, the ultimate answer to this is empiricism. Which is why the current academic fad of radical scientific relativism is so toxic.
Sokal Hoax: glory.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sokal_affair
"Anyone who believes that the laws of physics are mere social conventions is invited to try transgressing those conventions from the windows of my apartment. I live on the twenty-first floor."
David Stove (Anything Goes: The Cult of Scientific Irrationalism) points out that these cultural relativists always leave themselves an out; basically they don’t really believe what they write. They believe in having air conditioning in their house that performs according to the ideal gas law, and then go to work and write that science is just a cultural artifact of the west, no better than any other culture.