Reflections on epistemology

I have been considering why I believe things about truth, science, beliefs, etc. (epistemology) because of my internal doubts about motivations for my beliefs, tribalism, how to educate, convince, etc., in particular wrt. the rise of fascism, partisan divisions, etc.. That is, questions like: How can I justifiably want others to believe certain things if I’m not sure I’m right? What tactics are appropriate to convince others? Is it ever a good idea to commit to never accepting a particular belief?

I initially sought to create a baseline assumption about the correctness of my beliefs, in order to make a statement "If it is indeed true that my beliefs are correct to this degree, then it follows that these facts are correct about how I ought to approach beliefs in others and my own beliefs".

Unfortunately, I ran into an issue: I wasn’t sure whether it made sense to consider the notion of reasoning itself to be in some sense “prior” to social and material facts and interactions. In philosophy, it is often debated how we can know the external world really exists as it seems, but how can we be sure we could use reasoning to initially convince ourselves of this, even if it were true? After all, reasoning is often an institutional process, and it involves many societal norms, and it is actively taught. I therefore am unsure whether a person born without a society could reason in the same way I reason.

I considered alternative scenarios: Perhaps there is a weaker, “primitive” reason that “initially” exists and allows us to then learn about the world, and, from it, learn “proper” reasoning. This then calls into question the sanctity of reasoning: There may be alternative “reasonings” that arise from different circumstances, and just as the “primitive” reason is imperfect, so could our best effort at accurate reasoning be today—not merely by virtue of mistakes, biases, or incomplete information, but fundamentally in some sense.

This prompted me to abandon this approach for now and instead try to state beliefs about the social world that cause me to care about truth in the first place.

Now, all of the above considerations are by no means carefully considered, unique, new, or important; I’m merely describing the thought process that led me to compose this list. I quite literally discussed this with myself in the shower.

List of beliefs

With that in mind, here is my attempt to write down a small set of beliefs that I do find myself holding right now that point towards a desire for true beliefs in the world.

  1. I believe that there is a world, in which there are things, and people, and that there are truths about this world.
  2. I believe that holding true beliefs about the world enables you to be more effective in manipulating the world.
  3. I have an intuitive desire to know the truths about the world, to understand it, and to master it. In other words,
    1. true beliefs are good
    2. effectiveness in manipulating the world is good
  4. I have some notion of a “good” world, or life, or society. I want to bring this world about.
  5. I want to be happy. Happiness is good.
  6. There are people in the world, perhaps all people, that I want to be happy as well.
  7. I believe the “good” world, or life, or society, is conducive to happiness, in general. Such a world is possible.
  8. I believe other people also have some notion of a “good” world. I further believe their notion of a “good” world in some sense overlaps with mine. They are not fundamentally opposed to each other. These other people want to bring about this “good” world.
  9. I believe people are capable. They are able to bring about things they want.

Therefore, I want people to have true beliefs. Having true beliefs will make them and me more effective in bringing about aspects of the “good” world. Since our conceptions of the “good” world are not fundamentally opposed, this can “improve” the world overall. Further, true beliefs and mastery over the world are good, like happiness is.