Issues about knowledge & the knower

A BBC/Open University video, looking at how we all construct reality based on our past experiences and the expectations these create.

An Aeon essay, which explores “what makes something worth believing”.

A Big Think article, considering how there isn’t such a clear demarcation as we think between beliefs that are reasonable, and beliefs that are irrational. 

An Aeon essay, considering how we see what we expect to see.

A Big Think article, in which Donald Hoffman argues we have evolved to experience a “collective delusion”.

This very short Guardian article nonetheless poses an excellent question: what proportion of our memory (specifically our earliest memories) are actually fictional, and actually based on photographs and anecdotes?

A Big Think article which explores ‘coherentism’, the belief that circular arguments are a valid way of making claims about the world.

An Atlantic article considering how our values are often derived from physiological reactions to stimuli.

An Aeon article, looking at the validity of thought experiments (such as the Trolley Problem) in providing us with ethical insights.

The philosopher Daniel DeNicola argues in Aeon that we don’t have the freedom to believe in what we choose; our beliefs must be supported by valid evidence.

A BBC article looking at a ‘mentalist’ approach to viewing the world.

A Big Think video, in which Donald Hoffman argues that the key to successful arguments is ensuring that everyone is using terms clearly and understandably.

A Guardian podcast, in which Malcolm Gladwell discusses how we misread human emotions, and the implications of this.

A Guardian video, considering why conspiracy theories are so attractive to us as an explanation of how the world functions.

A Conversation article looking at how names and labels can help to shape the way we perceive people and things.

A National Geographic article, which analyzes the different ways in which people assess the risks associated with the Covid pandemic.

A Vox interview with Julia Galef about her new book, ‘The Scout Mindset’, and how its central ideas can help us become more effective knowers.

This is a Guardian interview with neuroscientist Dr Hannah Critchlow, in which she discusses – as the title of the article suggests – why is is so difficult for us to change our minds, and embrace other perspectives.

A Big Think video, in which a wide range of thinkers offer their thoughts on how we’re wired to think in terms of ‘us vs. them’.

A Vox article, exploring how ‘motivated seeing’ can warp the way we view the world.

As it explains in the introduction, this Aeon essay is all about discerning what you really believe, from the ideas that you might have for other motives. It offers some truth experiments to help identify your ‘true’ beliefs.

A Big Think article which applies a thoughts experiment from the 1970s to the modern world – with insightful results.

This New Statesman article looks at the way we try to digitally ‘hoard’ experiences, by taking photos or making videos of events, and the effect this may have on our relationship with reality.

Writing in Aeon, Bruce Russell looks at the nature of a priori justification, and its relationship with knowledge.

A Big Think video, which considers the extent to which new knowledge is created via asking the right questions.

This BBC article looks at the way in which ‘biohackers’ try to create ‘new’ senses for human being by utilizing technology, and grafting it onto the human body.

A Big Think video, looking at how the mind makes new ideas.

An Atlantic podcast, in which the Harvard psychologist Dr Ellen Langer asserts that being curious about the world is based on accepting there are gaps in your knowledge.

A Guardian article, considering how we sometimes need to draw on more than facts to support our knowledge claims, and try to combat conspiracy theories.

A New Humanist article assessing the impact scepticism makes on the way we seek to produce knowledge about the world.

A Big Think article, looking at how Francis Bacon – 400 years ago – identified ‘cognitive biases’ and offered advice on how to overcome them.

Brian Resnick at Vox offers two strategies to strengthen powers of argument, with a strong emphasis on listening to what other people think and feel.

This Conversation article looks at the extent to which people fail to pick up on factual errors about the world around them, even when they know the correct information. This is best summed up by the ‘Moses Illusion’.