Epistemology

Epistemology is the philosophical study of  the theories of knowledge. I think this is subject may explain some of the social disagreements currently experienced in our culture. Two competing  philosophies of how knowledge is acquired are at the heart of the matter. This competition has be ongoing since the late Middle Ages. The Bible and religious logic was the only source of knowledge in the early Christian era. The Bible was invented in 325 A.D. at the Council of Nicaea. All knowledge was considered to be contained in the Bible. Nothing else was necessary. What passed for logic was the only method for gaining answers for this one source. This was not the formal logic known today. So when we discuss the notion of belief, this word loses meaning for many abstract thinkers. There is no such reliable concept for the scientifically minded. What one "believes" is irrelevant. One can "believe" almost anything, even that dinosaurs coexisted with mankind. For the logical thinker, believing something does not make it so. For those who find Truth in the Bible, it does. Try talking someone with deluded beliefs and then present logic arguments and you will find it is nearly impossible to get them to give up their notions of how Truth is determined.

Descartes is considered the father of Modern Thought. He pioneered application of formal logic to the problems of philosophy. Prior to that there was nearly no science and alchemy was the reigning "scientific" activity. The Scientific Method of Modern Thought was considered a great threat to the established religions. Written scientific tracts was very dangerous and many scientists were threaten by The Catholic Church. Descartes and Kant tried to allow for a Creator but still the conclusions being draw in logic and science were too dangerous to the established order.

In Piaget's theories of cognitive development the last two stages are Concrete and Formal Operations. Concrete Operations is the stage between 7 and 11 years of age where the child can begin to recognize relationships between objects but cannot think abstractly. In Formal Operations the person can begin to apply logic and reasoning to ideas, to consider abstractions. Estimates as high as 50% of adults achieve the final stage of thinking. That means about 50% do not. The application of logic and reasoning is simply beyond their ability. My experience with these people is that they become very frustrated and then hostile when confronted with a way to thinking that they cannot understand. They seem to feel mocked by those who think like adults. The Christian Churches continue to promulgate the idea that if not all knowledge then all moral knowledge comes from the Bible only. Therefore if one does not believe in same way they do, them they are against them. The pandering to the Religious Right is evident when the Republican Presidential candidates are all denying the theory of Evolution in public and on stage.

So, the Ideologues in the the political theater use this issue of the inability to use logic to rally the mass who seek simple answers to complex issues. Two legs bad, four legs good. Jews, African-Americans (aka Shiftless Negroes), homosexuals, illegals and liberals, are responsible for  the problems in this county. Hitler used this way of thinking to rally the Germans against Jews, Gypsies and homosexuals. Does sound familiar? This is the way of thinking to today's Right Wing and Tea Party. Karl Rove once said, "A Democrat is a man with a Ph.D." Pitting the "common man" against the intelligentsia. Intelligentsia being anyone smarter than you. With enough money to buy ads that incessantly pound simple solutions to complex issues, as does Fox News, one can get the concrete thinker to believe almost anything. To wit, Michelle Bachmann. For her and Sara Palin, facts appear to be fluid concept. Obama, being an intellectual, makes an easy target for folks who are unable to understand the nuanced language he uses. 

The inability to accept the concept of climate change is another example of the basic mistrust of science and scientists, who speak in a language that is incomprehensible to the concrete thinker. The logic of worrying about leaving massive government debt for the next generation doesn't square with not worrying about a leaving them a planet damaged by pollution. Why one but not the other? Money and power. Vested interested and the returns of immediate profits push the agenda that suits their needs and nothing more. Shameless greed and the subversion of our democratic process combine to create this political of movement using those disenfranchised by their inability to understand the complex issues, who are offered easy solutions.

The breaking down and the splitting of the middle class leaves the Oligarchs in control of everything. They are using this split in concrete and formal thought to mobilize the troops to march in lockstep to act against their own best interests.