Why should I fact-check my beliefs?
Epistemological Duties
Can I Trust My Beliefs?
It is hard to think of people that may want to have thoughts in which they cannot trust. we want to make sure that what we are thinking is right or at least makes sense. In other words, we constantly try to make sure that we are understanding things in the right way. Even if someone holds some ill intentions, such a person will do whatever she wants to do based on the picture she has about the world. That is, this person will act based on her understanding of the world. We cannot act but based on what we believe about the world, and we cannot hold beliefs but based on what we perceive. And when we talk about perception here, we do not only mean what we can perceive through our sensorial senses, but any act of awareness that we may have in respect to any entity. In this regard, whenever we act, we act based on what we hold is the reality, and this latter is what we perceive as real. And what we perceive as real is that upon which we trust our judgement.
Every thought is made out of judgements, and, in this is regard, every thought rests upon which what we perceive as real. So, this is the reason why whenever we perceive our thoughts as not being clear enough, we hold some concern regarding whether we can actually trust or not these thoughts. Thoughts present to us as not being so clear whenever we experience that we might not be perceiving reality that well. So, experiencing an inadequate perception of reality amounts to distrusting the thoughts that are generated based on the perception of that reality. This means that in this phenomenon there is some subjective aspect. Trusting or distrusting our thoughts depends on experiencing or not experiencing certain inadequate perceptions of reality.
We trust our thoughts when we do not experience some inadequate perception of reality, and, likewise, we distrust our thoughts when we experience some inadequate perception of reality. Now, given the subjective aspect of this phenomenon, this means that sometimes we might trust our thoughts even though there are objective reasons for casting doubt on our perceptions of reality, and, at the same time, sometimes there might be situations where we distrust our thoughts although there are no objective reasons for putting into doubt our perceptions.
In the following we will briefly, but hopefully substantially, address the case in which we trust our thoughts and yet there are objective reasons for casting doubt upon our perception of reality. Why does this happen? How is this possible?
It seems that such cases are caused either by some lack of education or some missing evidence, or, in some cases, by a mixture of both things. In other words, when our thoughts lack, in some way, one of the so called epistemic virtues – namely, to be based on facts – there are objective reasons for distrusting our thoughts, even if we cannot experience this scarcity.
what is the remedy against this malady that can affect any human in respect to her thoughts?
As Christians believe, there is some tendency in humankind that leads us to deficiency. In the context that we are dealing with, it could be said that human beings have an inclination to forge thoughts, that although they trust, are not, objectively speaking, based on an adequate perception of reality. This is a universal human condition due to our limited perception of reality. We cannot and we will never be able to perceive the whole spectrum of reality.
For this reason, we constantly need to fact-check the basis of our thoughts. Either through personal investigation or through engaging in authentic dialogue with others, we should always be open to the possibility that we might be wrong. In this regard, it is intellectual humbleness what is required in order to fight against this malady that affects the human race. This humbleness does not consist in trying to pretend that we know less than we actually know, but, as Socrates did, being aware of the limits of our perceptions, and, therefore, our knowledge. Authentic intellectual humbleness consists, then, in being aware of our human condition.
Let´s put in the work and fact-check our thoughts.
About Author
Jesús Vila is a philosopher from Lima, Peru. He developed the critical thinking program in Rurapuk. He teaches Philosophy at Catholic University in Lima. He loves swimming.
