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On Epistemic Black Holes. How Self-Sealing Belief Systems Develop and Evolve

Boudry, Maarten and Hofhuis, Steije (2022) On Epistemic Black Holes. How Self-Sealing Belief Systems Develop and Evolve. [Preprint]

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Abstract

Some belief systems postulate intelligent agents that are deliberately evading detection and thus sabotaging any possible investigation into their existence. These belief systems have the remarkable feature that they predict an absence of evidence in their favor, and even the discovery of counterevidence. Such ‘epistemic black holes’, as we call them, crop up in different guises and in different domains: history, psychology, religion. Because of their radical underdetermination by evidence and their extreme resilience to counterevidence, they develop and evolve in certain predictable ways. Shedding light on how epistemic black holes function can protect us against their allure.


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Item Type: Preprint
Creators:
CreatorsEmailORCID
Boudry, Maartenmaartenboudry@gmail.com
Hofhuis, Steije
Keywords: belief systems; irrationality, conspiracy theory; epistemology; cultural evolution; religion; psychoanalysis; witchcraft
Subjects: Specific Sciences > Mathematics > Epistemology
Specific Sciences > Cultural Evolution
Depositing User: Maarten Maarten Boudry
Date Deposited: 31 Jan 2023 18:29
Last Modified: 31 Jan 2023 18:29
Item ID: 21697
Subjects: Specific Sciences > Mathematics > Epistemology
Specific Sciences > Cultural Evolution
Date: 5 July 2022
URI: https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/21697

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