I had a discussion with someone on Reddit about epistemology and it didn’t go well. That got me to thinking about things and I was going to make a video, but then I caught a Rationality Rules video scroll by and even though I don’t subscribe to him anymore, I watched it anyhow, since it was fortuitously timed, and figured I’d do it here.

So here goes.

First, here’s the Rationality Rules video, just in case you want to watch it. I think it’s a pretty decent overview.

So, where do I fall on the spectrum? People who regularly watch the channel will not be surprised by any of this. I am a skeptical evidentialist. I don’t think any of the other positions make any rational sense whatsoever.

Therefore, let’s go through it. I don’t think you can conceivably have a justified, true belief without having something to justify it outside of your own head. That leaves all the other positions out. I’m assuming you watched the video and if you didn’t, that might not make much sense. I’ll give a quick overview then.

Foundationalism assumes that there are some facts that are the foundation of all knowledge. They do not have to be proven, they are just assumed true because otherwise, you have nothing. That’s the problem, you have nothing. Anyone can just pick whatever foundational principles they like and, in fact, they do. Most theists are foundationalists of some sort. They just assume their gods are real. They don’t have to prove it, they just assert it as true because without it, everything in their house of cards collapses under the weight of its own stupidity. That’s why discussions with the religious rarely go anywhere productive. They just really want to believe.

Next comes coherentism. That just means that your views are coherent when used in conjunction with your other beliefs. That is also nonsense because coherent doesn’t mean true. Your entire system of beliefs can be completely coherent within themselves and still be completely wrong. This, again, is a very clear and common problem with the religious, because they start with their core foundational beliefs and specifically pick other positions to hold that are in accord with the ones they really like for emotional reasons. Coherentism, in and of itself, is nonsense.

Next is reliabilism, which really fares no better. Reliablism sounds fine on the surface until you realize that you have nothing demonstrable to compare it against. Reliable according to what? Again, I’m trying to get to justifiable true beliefs and how do you justify anything without something external to yourself to compare it against? How do you test these things outside of your own head? You can’t? Hard pass!

That leaves us with evidentialism, which is trying to prove your beliefs based on the cold, hard light of reality. It doesn’t matter what sounds good to you, it matters what is verifiably true. This shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone. I talk about it all the time.

However, when you add in skepticism, which ought to be part of absolutely everyone’s tool bag, you have to realize a couple of things about knowledge: Knowledge isn’t perfect. Knowledge isn’t forever. Knowledge is what you know at  the time that you know it, nothing more.

That bothers a lot of people. Too bad. Our views of reality are always provisional. We know what we know when we know it. Reality is what it is, but that doesn’t mean we understand it. We might never understand it all. That’s just something people need to come to grips with.

This is where emotion will always lead you astray. Your feelings don’t matter. Reality exists. It does what it does. How you feel about it is irrelevant. Grow up. That’s something a lot of people don’t want to do and it’s why I’m absolutely blunt about it. People who can’t accept reality as it is and deal with it on reality’s terms have some serious emotional and maturity problems. They need professional help. We should never accept adults who can’t deal with reality. Coming to grips with what is, that’s part of the basic maturation process.

People seriously need to grow the hell up and learn to deal. Anyone who can’t, they need a rubber room, at least metaphorically. I couldn’t care less about your fee-fees. I care only about the verifiable facts. It’s why so many people refuse to talk to me because they have none. Kind of sad, right?

If you have any questions, the comments are open. Let me have it. I don’t mind one bit.