PHOTO CREDIT: Brian K. Pritchard, Fetch Your News.
BY: Robin Koerner, Host
PUBLISHED: May 27, 2017
The Word “Epistemic” Means Relating to Knowledge or the Degree of its Validation
There is no political system so perfect that it will not be deadly when imposed against the will of others by people sure of their own righteousness. Orwell saw that no political theory even the egalitarian socialism that he believed to be the most moral can prevent its adherents from being anything other than tyrants if they are committed to it in a way that is immune to the protests and experiences of other people.
In other words, tyranny is not the result of a belief in a bad political theory; it is the result of a bad belief in a political theory and that is an entirely different thing.
To understand tyranny, then, we need to think a bit less about politics, and a bit more about epistemology.
Epistemology concerns the nature of knowledge, and especially its formation, justification, and scope. Accordingly, the word “epistemic” means relating to knowledge or the degree of its validation.
We may be able to identify one ideology as more consistent with freedom than another, but that is just an academic exercise if in practice it is the nature of the commitment to the ideology, rather than the content committed to, that leads to authoritarianism.
Read a related article: Be Wary of the “Enlightened” Class
