Appreciation of Epistemic Rationality
by Wei Jing HO – Sunday, 13 October 2024, 1:41 PM
Number of replies: 3
Belief are formed overtime (through sensory and cognitive processing) and they are the cornerstone of how as humans we rationalise sensory inputs. Rational thought processes guides the seeking of truthful knowledge, as such it is my opinion that epistemic rationality and the thinking of what it is, is important.
However it is true that we cannot easily define whether someone has made an epistemic rational judgement by a generalised formula. How humans make judgements is more than thoughts, our emotions also plays a part.
Simple problems may have simple solutions, but we also need to understand that complex problems needs personalised solutioning. We cannot squeeze a whale of a problem into a puzzle box to solve by a simple method.
As such, to “solve” the epistemic rationality issue, it has to combine not just with thinking about what is epistemically rational, but also with the “heartware” – the feelings/psychology aspect.
Now as I reflect on what I read in Chapter 5, I am starting to comprehend the value behind the school systems. It takes generations of strategizing and planning by a country’s learned men and women to setup systems that can level-up a child -> teenagers’ beliefs and ability to make rational assessment with reliable truth seeking methods.
In my career, I have accidentally landed roles where I need to train adults and teenagers. The internal training for both types of educators (Andragogy/Pedagogy) are different. For teaching of teenagers, the teachers were taught to have more focus on pastoral care elements, e.g., we have to roleplay the situations the kids may end up in, so we can empathise and help them.
Throughout my tenure I have encountered several incredulous incidents where the children landed themselves in trouble. When they explained their thought processes, you can tell it veered off from the norm. That is the point you need to correct them and monitor.
In this kind of alignment of epistemic rationality I believe it is already in place. This is a useful topic to remind us of the efforts generations of educators have set in place, and the reason we cannot define it is because it takes multigenerational educational effort; to set the foundations of rational distillation of knowledge that is true.
Re: Appreciation of Epistemic Rationality
by Amna Whiston – Monday, 14 October 2024, 8:35 PM
Thank you, Wei, for sharing this personal example – quite useful for our discussion and reflection.
Your experience with both andragogy and pedagogy illuminates well the importance of tailored approaches in education, especially in shaping rational assessment skills in younger minds. The multigenerational effort you mention is key here; it takes generations of educators and system builders to establish a framework that aligns children’s thought processes with reliable truth-seeking methods.
Your observations about how students sometimes veer off from normative thinking, and the need to correct and guide them, illustrate how epistemic rationality is already embedded in our educational systems, even if we don’t always recognize its long-term developmental goals.
In reply to Amna Whiston
Re: Appreciation of Epistemic Rationality
by Wei Jing HO – Wednesday, 16 October 2024, 12:36 AM
Thank you Amna, this is a very succinct summary that clarifies my thoughts. I love it. Will save it for future reference.
In reply to Wei Jing HO
Re: Appreciation of Epistemic Rationality
by Amna Whiston – Wednesday, 16 October 2024, 4:42 PM
You are welcome, Wei!