Attempts at Understanding Fallibilism

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Zelalem Mekonnen’s avatar
Zelalem MekonnenOP revised 1 day ago·#2539
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Fallibilism is the idea that all of our knowledge contains errors, and that nothing is obviously true but depends on what one understands about reality. This means that we can't be certain about anything, because we don't have a criterion of truth. Knowledge grows by addressing problems in our knowledge. We solve problems by guessing solutions and testing them. This also means we should always be careful not to destroy or even slow down the things and ideas that correct errors and thereby create knowledge. Some of which are freedom, privacy, and free markets. We are also never the passive recipients of our knowledge; we are the creators.

This view is mainly influenced by Popper, and errors are my own.

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Dennis Hackethal’s avatar
Dennis Hackethal, 6 days ago·#2374

Fallibilism is the idea that all of our knowledge contains errors…

This is a common mischaracterization of fallibilism. It’s actually a form of cynicism. See https://blog.dennishackethal.com/posts/don-t-take-fallibilism-too-far

In reality, fallibilism is the view that there is no criterion to say with certainty what’s true and what’s false; that, as a result, we inevitably make mistakes; and that some of our knowledge is mistaken at any given time. But not all of it.

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Zelalem Mekonnen’s avatar
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So in a way, there is no way to tell the truth of our knowledge, they may work in solving a problem or a contradiction, but that doesn't guarantee that those statements are true.

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Dennis Hackethal’s avatar

Superseded by #2542. This comment was generated automatically.

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