How to Ask Better Epistemic Questions
Better epistemic questions locate evidence, confidence, alternatives, update conditions, and possible gaps.
Questions About Evidence
Ask what evidence exists, what evidence is missing, what evidence would be expected if the claim were false, and how reliable the source or method is.
- |What would I expect to see if this were true?
- |What would I expect to see if this were false?
- |What alternative explanations remain live?
- |How often does this source or method get similar claims right?
Questions About Confidence
Ask how strong the credence is, whether the confidence matches the evidence, and what would move it. A belief without update conditions is not yet fully answerable to evidence.
Questions About Gaps
Ask whether the likely problem is Objective Evidence to Perceived Evidence (E0-EP) or Perceived Evidence to Assigned Credence (EP-CA). Are we missing tools and evidence, or are we resisting what we already see? This question often changes the whole conversation.