When I first got invited to blog I had several topics I was really excited about. Then life came at me fast and most of those projects fell between the cracks. What I want to do is return to them but cut to the chase a little more swiftly. <\/p>\n
I’ve talked about knowledge quite a bit. Especially with posts like Pragmatism as Mormon Epistemology Part 1<\/a> and Part 2<\/a>. Here’s my theory about a way of Mormon knowing that can deal both with the typical lay member as well as explain how an informed member can claim to know religious truths.<\/p>\n 1. Belief is not volitional<\/b>. When I go outside I believe whether the sky is blue or pink based upon my experience of seeing it as blue or pink. When it’s blue I can’t make myself by pure will believe it pink.<\/p>\n 2. That which I can not doubt I must treat practically as true<\/b>. It’s easy to say I believe or disbelieve. But actually believing is acting as if the belief is true. My actions betray what I believe.<\/p>\n 3. Reality acts on me and changes my beliefs<\/b>. It is the blue sky acting on me that makes me believe it is blue. That action may take place within an experience but it comes from outside myself.<\/p>\n 4. I choose where to place my attention<\/b>. This is one of the few things I can directly choose. I can act. I can look. But I don’t get to pick my own consequences.<\/p>\n 5. Over time reality thus makes me disbelieve false beliefs and believe true beliefs if I inquire rigorously regarding the objects in question<\/i><\/b>. My engagement with things shapes my beliefs. I can hide from things and cut myself off from inquiry or I can engage with things through inquiry. As things act upon me that affects my beliefs. This doesn’t mean I’ll immediately have the truth. But it means over time if I allow it I’ll come towards truth.<\/p>\n 6. Knowledge can’t entail infallibility<\/b>. Frequently when we believe we know we are wrong. So we can’t confuse knowledge with absolute infallibility. The feeling of being certain isn’t the state of being certain. The feeling of being certain is just the belief that you know.<\/p>\n 7. From (3-5) inquiry is determining where to put my attention so I can direct myself towards truth. The key question of knowledge thus isn’t justification as if justification were steps in an argument as in a math proof. Rather the key question is why our beliefs change and whether we’re doing our duty to inquire.<\/p>\n 8. From (1,2,5,6) Stable beliefs that persist through continued inquiry I must treat as true. <\/p>\n Now none of this is to say arguments don’t matter. Engaging with arguments is part of inquiry. To avoid potential questions is to say one lacks faith because one is afraid one might be wrong. Yet at the same time to only look at certain questions without inquiring into why they affect us the way they do is also to cut off inquiry. <\/p>\n Note none of this is to say we’ll all know at the same rate. I picked up mathematics as a child very quickly. Some of my children struggle at it after years. In the same way some may know certain spiritual truths quickly while others are unable to believe. Nor does it mean we’ll all agree in our knowledge immediately. But most likely the reason we disagree is because we’ve not inquired sufficiently about the same things.<\/p>\n