Philosophy Now Forum

1. Exactly what is it that we know for a fact?

Understanding fact as an instance of knowledge which is justified belief; anything that is sufficiently justified. That requires understanding Bayesian reasoning and the relative values of evidence as well as the three contingencies, salience, perspective, and priority, each of which has an effect on the apparency of the justification..

2. Exactly how do we know it?

Besides the framework above; understanding logical fallacies, cognitive biases, and this:

universal taxonomy - evidence by certainty
10 experience qua experience
9 math, logic, Spiritual Math
8 science (rigor)
7 professional consensus (context specific expertise)
6 occupational reality (verified pragmatism)
5 ground truth (consensus reality)
4 experience of (possible delusion)
3 collaborative anecdote (presumes accurate communication motive)
2 adversarial anecdote (presumes inaccurate communication motive)
1 found anecdote (assumed motive)
0 ignorance

3. What are the sources, the reliability and the limits of our knowledge?

That sounds like questions that must be answered on a case by case basis except that there is an absolute limit between reality and Actuality called transcendence which we can never surpass (directly). We can expand reality (consensus experience) by increasing the resolution of our instruments or through logical necessity, as in philosophy.

Advocate wrote: ↑Wed Sep 30, 2020 6:15 pm
There's a strong anti-intellectual undercurrent in all societies because ignorant people are easier to rule, for better or worse. There is an appropriate amount of information to give an ordinary citizen and a different amount to give a leader.

I agree. I think there is also a desire held by the citizens themselves for mediocrity and ignorance, because critical thinking is hard for the average citizen.

[quote=commonsense post_id=473842 time=1601496466 user_id=14610]
[quote=Advocate post_id=473818 time=1601486140 user_id=15238]

There's a strong anti-intellectual undercurrent in all societies because ignorant people are easier to rule, for better or worse. There is an appropriate amount of information to give an ordinary citizen and a different amount to give a leader.
[/quote]

I agree. I think there is also a desire held by the citizens themselves for mediocrity and ignorance, because critical thinking is hard for the average citizen.
[/quote]

*average Morlock.