#philosophy #knowledge #rationality # [[Epistemic status]] #godel-uncertain # Epistemic humility >it is our capacity to doubt that will determine the future of civilization >~ [[Feynman]] >It is our responsibility as scientists, knowing the great progress and great value of a satisfactory philosophy of ignorance, the great progress that is the fruit of freedom of thought, to proclaim the value of this freedom, to teach how doubt is not to be feared but welcomed and discussed, and to demand this freedom as our duty to all coming generations. >~ [[Feynman]] >Pliability is life. — Be pliable. When a man is living, he is soft and pliable; when he is dead, he becomes rigid. Pliability is life; rigidity is death, whether one speaks of man’s body, his mind, or his spirit. >~ [[Bruce Lee]] This is a tool in your [[Epistemic hygiene]] belt, it is about being [[Skepticism|skeptical]] or your own [[Philosophy/Epistemology/Knowledge|knowledge]]. >If a man would pursue Philosophy, his first task is to throw away conceit. For **it is impossible for a man to begin to learn what he has a conceit that he already knows.** >~ [[Epictetus]] >I have never met a man so ignorant that I couldn't learn something from him. >~ [[Galileo]] >In my walks, every man I meet is my superior in some way, and in that I learn from him >~ [[Ralph Waldo Emerson]] [[Philosophy/Epistemology/Do not vomit what you did not digest well enough]] >The wise man is one who, knows, what he does not know. ~ [[Lao Tze]] Being the opposite of [[Epistemic arrogance]], that is, being constantly aware of your ignorance and judging every new piece of [[Information|information]] as if you were a blank slate. >I made it a Rule to forbear all direct Contradiction to the Sentiments of others, and all positive Assertion of my own. I even forbid myself agreable to the old Laws of our Junto, the Use of every Word or Expression in the [[Language]] that imported a fix'd Opinion; such as **certainly**, **undoubtedly**, &c. and I adopted instead of them, I **conceive**, I **apprehend**, or I **imagine** a thing to be so or so, or it so appears to me at present.-When another asserted something that I thought an Error, I deny'd my self the Pleasure of contradicting him abruptly, and of showing immediately some Absurdity in his Proposition; and in answering I began by observing that in certain Cases or Circumstances his Opinion would be right, but that in the present case there appear'd or seem'd to me some Difference, &c. ~ [[Benjamin Franklin]] [[Bertrand Russell]] says >In studying a [[Philosopher|philosopher]], the right attitude is neither **reverence** nor **contempt**, but first a kind of **hypothetical sympathy**, until it is possible to know what it feels like to believe in his theories, and only then a revival of the **critical attitude**, which should resemble, as far as possible, the state of mind of a person **abandoning opinions** which he has hitherto held >The Master said, “Yu, shall I teach you what [[Philosophy/Epistemology/Knowledge|knowledge]] is? When you know a thing, to hold that you know it; and when you do not know a thing, to allow that you do not know it—this is [[Philosophy/Epistemology/Knowledge|knowledge]].” >~ [[Confucius]] >Man (in good earnest) is a marvellous vain, fickle, and unstable subject, and on whom it is very hard to form any certain and uniform judgment. >~ [[Montaigne]] >A great nation is like a great man: **When he makes a mistake, he realizes it. Having realized it, he admits it. Having admitted it, he corrects it.** He considers those who point out his faults as his most benevolent teachers. He thinks of his enemy as the shadow that he himself casts. >~ [[Lao Tze]] >So you have to learn how to admit **you’re wrong**, over and over and over again. It doesn’t sound like much, but it’s so hard that most people can’t do science. Always questioning yourself, always taking another look at things you’ve always taken for granted >~ [[Eliezer Yudkowsky]] >An intelligent mind is an inquiring mind. An intelligent mind is an INQUIRING mind. It is not satisfied with explanations, with conclusions; nor is it a mind that believes, because **belief is again another form of conclusion.** >~ [[Bruce Lee]] Similar topic links: [[Epistemology]] [[Philosophy]]