Epistemology is a branch in philosophy that deals with such questions of knowledge as:
- What are the limitations of our knowledge?
- What is the proper way to understand the world?
- What is the nature of our knowledge?
The epistemologically or intellectually modest person is someone who is aware that he knows just how little he knows. It was well expressed by Socrates when he (paradoxically) said:
“All I know is that I know nothing”.
I believe that this attitude is extremely important to hold in the sphere of the social sciences (sociology, politics, economics etc). A political philosophy that holds this attitude is Libertarianism.
Libertarianism and epistemological modesty
What has attracted me most to libertarianism is that libertarians in general seem to hold an epistemologically modest attitude.
Friedrich von Hayek has for example warned us in ‘The Pretense of Knowledge’ (1974) of believing that we know more than we actually do. That when policy makers believe that they are wise enough to understand the world to the extent that they can plan society, their policies to improve the social order are doing more harm than good.
According to Hayek, every individual knows just a fraction of what is collectively known. In other words, knowledge is decentralized. What leads to the best welfare of a person is best known by that individual, so we should let him make his own decisions on how to plan his life.
Why epistemological modesty is important
If we are not epistemologically modest and falsely believe that we understand the social forces and how they should be directed to improve the social order, we may create unintended consequences.
One example of unintended consequences is the governments’ meddling with Libya’s internal affairs. Many politicians believed that they understood the social forces in Libya, and that they could simply oust Gaddafi to make way for democracy and political freedom. The consequence is that this once relatively peaceful country has been turned into a warzone with no positive perspectives in sight. The NATO-led war campaign in 2011 has perished many people’s lives, has created many wounded, has ignited a refugee crisis of millions of people who are trying to find refuge in other countries, and has led to circumstances under which ISIS could take control of huge parts of Libya. Terrorism in the area has become more widespread. Those who believed that they could intervene with Libya’s internal affairs in order to make it a better place have been proven dead wrong!
An epistemologically modest person begins with his own awareness of his ignorance from where he grows his wisdom. He is therefore less likely to act as a ‘social engineer’ and to cause unintended consequences. The social engineer should be careful that his next policies to end the unintended consequences, which were created by his previous policies in the first place, would create more unintended consequences. It could be the beginning of an ugly downward spiraling out-of-control policy-making disaster.
In case of policy-making, policies should be designed in such a way that they take account of our ignorance. The policy-maker that takes our ignorance into account is the piecemeal engineer.
The piecemeal engineer
Karl Popper makes an interesting case for the piecemeal engineer in The Poverty of Historicism (1936). The piecemeal engineer tries to achieve improvements to the social order through small adjustments and re-adjustments. Making small adjustments allow the piecemeal engineer to identify the effects of his adjustments so that results expected can be compared with the results achieved. Part of the piecemeal engineering process is that errors are not avoided, but rather documented and learned from. This makes the piecemeal engineering process highly compatible with what Popper calls ‘critical rationalism’, an intellectual attitude that all theories should be rationally criticized and subjected to tests as our intellect is extremely fallible. The intellectual, according to Popper, should hence train himself to criticize theories instead of desiring to prove them.
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If you like this post, you might also like these other articles of mine:
The value of reading literature: how it can spark social change and imagination
Bruce Lee's philosophy is fundamentally Taoist and Libertarian in nature
The Crypto-Anarchist manifesto
The value of studying philosophy
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For me at least, the What I know slice of that pie chart would have to be smaller! :) Way too much out there to know, for me to have that big of a piece lol!
To all of us would do well to know more and to be less vain.
I can't stop hearing Donald Rumsfeld using a quote like this ("known knows etc) to avoid answering a question on WMD ... almost makes him sound smart when I read this article (ps spoiler alert - he wasn't modest and no Socrates... this article jogged my memory) http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/03/rumsfelds-knowns-and-unknowns-the-intellectual-history-of-a-quip/359719/
In my opinion, "I won't make you suffer from my lack of knowledge, and you don't make me suffer from your lack of knowledge, and that will be just fine" is a great way to live.
Let me disagree with your statement.
Richard Eberhart said: “Do not fear your enemies. The worst they can do is kill you. Do not fear friends. At worst, they may betray you. Fear those who do not care; they neither kill nor betray, but betrayal and murder exist because of their silent consent.”
One has only to recall how many people have died, and still die in the wars driven by religions.
How many people are doing something, just because so was said on TV, does not even double-checking the information.
It's the endless list...
Good points. I would only add that many of the "foreign policies" are not unintended consequences, but actually intended consequences to create regime destabilization in the middle-east as part of the gradualist/incremental agenda for globalization. It's profitable for many as well. Peace.
Agreed. We tend to underestimate just how strategic "foreign policies" can be; indeed, they were incredibly sophisticated back in the days of Ancient Rome and Greece - especially so during the reign of Rome's first emperor, Augustus Caesar (Octavian), who, it could be argued, was one of history's greatest 'masters of spin'. No doubt, the elite's knowledge of behavorism and persuasion-techniques has grown exponentially since then, which leads me to believe that there are very few 'unintended consequences.'
I am reminded of an excellent work on exactly the point you have raised on creating regime destabilization, 'The Shock Doctrine' by Naomi Klein. One review encapsulates it thus: "Naomi Klein explodes the myth that the global free market triumphed democratically. Exposing the thinking, the money trail and the puppet strings behind the world-changing crises and wars of the last four decades, The Shock Doctrine is the gripping story of how America’s “free market” policies have come to dominate the world-- through the exploitation of disaster-shocked people and countries. "
That's a very interesting take, @kain-jc. Thank you for your comment. I think you are right that the elite's knowledge of behaviorism and persuasion-techniques have grown, but I think that planning only works in the grander scheme of things. Those who are planning these are the 'top elites' and make just a very small % of the total population. I think that most policy makers have good intentions in mind and don't realize that they are working within a larger scheme.
I am aware of "The Shock Doctrine". I think you are right that shock doctrines are used to destabilize regimes, but I don't see how "free markets" are used to dominate the world. It happens through other means like terrorist attacks and having a population scared so that people accept their freedoms and rights to be curbed for the sake of safety.
You offer an optimistic perspective, which is always welcome as a balance to my often more apocalyptic ones :)
Hi @krnel, thank you for your comment. I think that in larger lines in the grand scheme of plans, you are right. But if we look in greater detail of how their plans come about, there are so many things that the 'grand theorists' have not been able to take into account.
Great post Chhaylin! Your thoughts here feed into my own regarding my research-interest: the effects of propaganda and indoctrination-techniques on the health and sickness of members of a society.
I especially like this section of yours, "The piecemeal engineer tries to achieve improvements to the social order through small adjustments and re-adjustments. Making small adjustments allow the piecemeal engineer to identify the effects of his adjustments so that results expected can be compared with the results achieved. Part of the piecemeal engineering process is that errors are not avoided, but rather documented and learned from."
My focus is on the effects of Feminist-ideology on relations between men and women, on the structure of a society, and on the physical and mental well-being of boys and girls, given, that in the West, Feminism is all-pervasive and virtually uncontested. (More insidiously, in my view, whomsoever disseminates an accepted ideology, controls the lives of a people!)
What I noticed early on in my research was that there was NO attempt whatsoever to document the effects of what amounted to as massive adjustments in the quality of interactions between males and females, the perceptions of men and women, as well as parenting involvement in the lives of children.
I am now inclined to regard a host of social and psychological ills as resulting from this form of social engineering. For example, I do not consider it a co-incidence that teen-male suicide rates (in Australia) should have tripled in the past 30 years; as Feminists fueled anti-male hatred and helped marginalize fathers from families. Yet, remarkably few are even remotely aware of the relationship between this cause and effect.
Thanks for your post!
Your research sounds very interesting. Would you mind to share some of your research findings? Maybe in a steemit article? I would love to read about it.
Your comment reminds me of Stephen Baskerville, a Professor at Patrick Henry College who told me about his concerns on feminism and its impact on our society.
I don't have prove of what you have stated, but I am inclined to think you are right. One other example of a social ill due to social engineering that comes to my mind: with over 50% of all first marriages ending in divorce and more than half of all these divorces involving children, the greatest threat to our liberties may well be the colluding social work bureaucracies with feminism as they can separate the man from his household and take him into psychiatric hospitals.
Also, what I see around me is that many men have become clueless on how to behave around women. We used to be told to be gentlemen, open doors for women, pay for them on dates etc. but at the same time we also hear that women want to be independent. Such social changes are confusing for men.
Thanks for your comment!
Thank you for expressing interest, and I will get around to sharing my research on here. I have been admittedly hesitant as I wasn't sure if such views would be welcome in this forum. I did post a piece on man's contribution to woman but it wasn't received that well. That was my attempt to address the deficit of men 'owning' that they actually have an effect on women that women cannot reproduce in the absence of a male.
Nicely phrased, "the greatest threat to our liberties may well be the colluding social work bureaucracies with feminism as they can separate the man from his household and take him into psychiatric hospitals." That's precisely what I have come to believe: that this entire system has been manufactured to render man either wholly a slave to woman's desires and/or insane!
@chhaylin You said you were interested in reading something of mine on the issues I mentioned?
https://steemit.com/life/@kain-jc/identity-is-everything-how-to-enslave-people-with-victim-hood-and-sickness
OMG !!! This is a very personal issue with me ... I'm in the USA ... I am NOT a writer .. so I have NOT even tried to write about this, i don't want to contend with any debate, i know what i know, I know what I have seen & i know what i see going on in america every day. i will tell my story, but i will not debate it .. perhaps you can write about it. Neo Feminist are ruining lives EVERYDAY ! If you are interested at all .. [email protected]
IRONIC: Aug 21st .. would have been my 29th Wedding Anniversary ...
+1 !! (sorry my vote does not have more weight ) :( Another great post on steemit. The value here is unbelievable (IMHO). If we were taught at a young age the meaning of "Unintended consequences" the world would be so different. The domino effect is unrealised and unbelievable. There is so much more to Newton's "For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction". (Imo) it should be stated as "For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction2.
"Yeah, well, that's just, like, MY opinion, man"
I don't mind how much weight your vote has. The fact that you find it a great post is very encouraging so thank you for taking your time to leave this comment. I really appreciate it.
That is very well phrased! :)
I really appreciate that ... really ! /bow
Hey Lin. that's a very nice post! Keep on the good work
@chhayll, thank you! :D
What a great post! It's a very interesting perspective on libertarian philosophy.
Thank you, @nicole! That's very sweet of you :D
Unintended consequences ..... Ha. Need to go find more of that :) Thanks for bringing it to my attention :)
You're welcome. It's always encouraging to read that someone enjoys reading my posts. :)
Great post.
Thank you! I'm glad that you have enjoyed it :)
Although is not one of my favourites topics i have to say i enjoyed the read
Thank you, @gargon :) I'm glad to know that you enjoyed it.
If someone tells you, he knows more than you about a specific thing because he had many years of experience - than you can answer him with a saying of Kurt Tucholsky: "Experience is nothing. You can do a thing wrong for 20 years."
This just came to my mind while reading your post again at breakfast.
Haha, excellent quote! :D
I appreciate your point ... but ... If that is your standard reply, isn't that automatically assuming he "Has been" doing it wrong for 20 years and depriving yourself of that "Possible" knowledge gained from 20 years of experience? Cute quote, but please don't auto discriminate (And restrict your own "Intelligence gathering") based on an age difference.
"Yeah, well, that's just, like, MY opinion, man"
Read More, Reason More ... JTS