Topics Knowledge

Question We've made incredible scientific and technological strides as a society, but do we as individuals know anything more than we ever have? Everything I know about science I've learned from books, magazines, newspapers, teachers, family and friends. I mean, I haven't done any of the research myself, and I can't imagine being able to do enough of the research myself to really know even a small fraction of what the scientific facts we take for granted. So do I just take all these books, teachers, friends, etc. at their word? If so, how is my situation any different than somebody who lived 500 years ago and also got all his information from books, teachers and friends?

Accepted:
March 21, 2006

Comments

When it comes to the justification of many of our beliefs--particularly those about the way the world works, and the way it is beyond our immediate environment--I don't think we are in a qualitatively different position now than we were 500, 5,000 or even 50,000 years ago. It's plausible to think that homo sapiens of that vintage shared our lingiuistic ability; and if so, this presumably helped them rely upon the testimony of others in their band (who in turn often stood at the end of long chains of such testimony) to form beliefs about the state of things across the mountains, or in the generations before they were born, or in their causal connections (e.g., how you start a fire), or in their cosmic ordering. As you point out, we too rely--and can't really help but rely--upon the claims other people make about the way the world is and works.

Of course, there are differences in degree. We have available to us many, many more sources of testimony (along with many more sources of quasi-observational evidence, like photographs). And we like to think that the information conveyed is more refined and accurate as a result of the many more people (now and through the accumulated generations) both testifying and cross-checking the testimony of others. But even though testimony is an indispensible and astonishingly effective way to transmit knowledge, it is no more fool-proof today than it's ever been. I'll testify to that.