"Lord I believe. Help my unbelief."

national | miscellaneous | opinion/analysis Sunday December 19, 2004 19:33 by Sean Crudden - impero sean at impero dot iol dot ie Jenkinstown, Dundalk, Co Louth. 087 9739945

Epistemology and Everyday Life

"The law is an ass." How can we distinguish what is authentic and genuine in the dense snow of pretence, pretension, ostentation pouring down on us from the hallowed halls of the media, politics, the professions, and the law as well as the gnomes of commerce?

Sean Crudden

"The O’Riordans stole that car," "The people around here are shite," "Dessie Hynes is not a bishop." One often encounters categorical statements like these from responsible and quite prominent people (who should know better). Such statements are often full of certitude and (alcoholic) gravity.

We all heard the old chestnut in our philosophy classes "We know - but how do we know we know?" On the one hand this may be considered a deep epistemological question; on the other it is a reasonably simple matter of practical everyday prudence.

It is clearly the case that we have writing in the main newspapers and speaking on mainstream radio and TV at the present time far more than our fair share of insincere bullshit artists. The irony is that they impress many people who swear by their sources in the daily media and these mountebanks often dictate fashion and set the political agenda as well as filling us full of popular "truths" and insights in health and education. Much of this received wisdom could be bogus and misleading.

We are familiar with the laws of classical science - like Boyle’s Law and Charles’ Law. We can be quite sure of the truth of these laws because they can be proved by experiment which can be replicated anywhere. However we often get "scientific" conclusions (in the area of health research) such as large scale surveys or drug "trials."
You can be sure that no-one is going to replicate many of these investigations (certainly not right away anyway) so we are being asked to believe as gospel something we cannot be sure of in a scientific sense. It’s a big ask. Frankly I think myself that many of these trials are often closer to commercial hype than to strict science.

It’s not that I am urging readers of indymedia to become doubting Thomases. It is as important to believe as it is to doubt. The irony is that we can believe more securely if we doubt at least a bit.

Of course when I speak I expect to be listened to. It is a useful personal support for me and an affirmation to my soul if my listener believes what I say. Contradicting every word that comes out of a young persons mouth and denying any validity in their statements, all the time, undermines their personality and corrodes their lives. One of the most profoundly uncharitable things is to disbelieve a person and contradict them when they say something like "I’m in pain" or "You are annoying me."