Epistemology

The pervasive term for politics in the U.S right now is " polarization. " It is true that people are divided into sharply divergent and seemingly irreconcilable camps. But the division is not about political philosophy or values or aspirations for society. It ' s about reality, plain facts.  I ' ve mentioned before Habermas ' s concept of the " three worlds " of criticizable validity claims. These are intersubjective reality, the world " out there, " what is true; the world of what ought to be, what we consider to be right and just and good; and what happens to please us as individuals, what we find to be sensually or psychically rewarding, what is beautiful.  The First World is complex. It includes what we know from personal experience, from direct observation. The large majority of people, looking at the same scene from a similar vantage point, will make consistent observations. People who do not see what that large majority sees are deemed psychotic. The First World also includes deduction. We learn that if A and B are true, C must be true also, or perhaps that C is very likely. People observe that pregnancy only happens after sexual intercourse so if a woman is pregnant . . .   Everybody knows that, but other relationships were deduced only after lengthy and complex study by people with expertise that most of us lack, in other words what we now call scientists. How do we know to trust what they say?  That isn ' t usually difficult, ...
Source: Stayin' Alive - Category: American Health Source Type: blogs