The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast Ep. 310: Wittgenstein On World-Pictures (Part Two)
Feb 13, 2023
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World-Pictures Are Contingent
- World-pictures are relative and multiple such pictures can be available to us.
- Changing a world-picture often requires more than argument because it shifts the underlying criteria we use to judge reasons.
Methodological Virtues Guide Shifts
- Criteria like simplicity, parsimony, and consistency act as shared tools that help adjudicate between competing explanations.
- Even when paradigms differ, these methodological virtues often guide scientific conversion and evidence evaluation.
Paranoia Reorders Epistemic Criteria
- Conspiracy theorists reject central evaluative criteria like parsimony and trust in testimony.
- Their web of belief centers distrust of institutions and different assumptions about human psychology.