We believe facts for all kinds of reasons-- it serves us best, the evidence supports it, our experiences are such, or someone in a lab coat told us. In introductory science courses, one first-taught principles is how do we know something. I want to take a brief moment to outline those sources of knowledge.
Tradition: Based on custom, repitition, and habit. "It's they way we've always done things here."
Intuition: Sudden insight, clarovoyance. "I just had a weird feeling that something bad was going to happen."
Logic/Rational Thought/Common Sense: Practical thoughts that that follow logically to lead to some truth. "She's frequently late, and we're meeting at 3pm, so she'll probably arrive after 3pm."
Authority: Information from a person distinguish as an authoritative source. "Four out of five denists agree..."
Experiential: First hand observations. "The bank robber was about yay high, had a long beard, and was wearing sunglasses."
Science: Systematic observation that leads to truth. "Based on repeated random trials across different settings with a generalizable population, it is concluded that..."
Given this outline of the ways we come to believe/know a piece of information. I encourage you to think about your own beliefs and knowledge. What makes you think the earth revolves around the sun? Is homosexuality genetic or socialized? What about global warming? Your religious beliefs? It is an interesting thought experiment and a healthy one. I find that too much in academia, we rely on authority and experiential knowledge, when we should isolate ourselves to science. I'm not sure, however, if that ideal is even reachable. Regardless of the knowledge you're consuming, it's important to ask why you are intaking that information and not others.
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