Epistemology

TagLast edit: 26 Jan 2021 2:48 UTC by jimrandomh

Epistemology is the study of how we know the world. It’s both a topic in philosophy and a practical concern for how we come to believe things are true.

The Problem of the Criterion

G Gordon Worley III21 Jan 2021 15:05 UTC

47 points

38 comments10 min readLW link

Local Validity as a Key to Sanity and Civilization

Eliezer Yudkowsky7 Apr 2018 4:25 UTC

137 points

65 comments13 min readLW link 5 reviews

On Solving Problems Before They Appear: The Weird Epistemologies of Alignment

adamShimi11 Oct 2021 8:20 UTC

93 points

11 comments15 min readLW link

Why the Problem of the Criterion Matters

G Gordon Worley III30 Oct 2021 20:44 UTC

24 points

4 comments8 min readLW link

Epistemological Framing for AI Alignment Research

adamShimi8 Mar 2021 22:05 UTC

53 points

7 comments9 min readLW link

The Lens That Sees Its Flaws

Eliezer Yudkowsky23 Sep 2007 0:10 UTC

134 points

41 comments3 min readLW link

Making Beliefs Pay Rent (in Anticipated Experiences)

Eliezer Yudkowsky28 Jul 2007 22:59 UTC

283 points

260 comments4 min readLW link

Radical Probabilism

abramdemski18 Aug 2020 21:14 UTC

154 points

47 comments35 min readLW link 1 review

By Which It May Be Judged

Eliezer Yudkowsky10 Dec 2012 4:26 UTC

70 points

940 comments11 min readLW link

The Map-Territory Distinction Creates Confusion

G Gordon Worley III4 Jan 2022 15:49 UTC

27 points

50 comments4 min readLW link

Incorrect hypotheses point to correct observations

Kaj_Sotala20 Nov 2018 21:10 UTC

142 points

37 comments4 min readLW link

(kajsotala.fi)

How to Convince Me That 2 + 2 = 3

Eliezer Yudkowsky27 Sep 2007 23:00 UTC

125 points

404 comments3 min readLW link

Rule Thinkers In, Not Out

Scott Alexander27 Feb 2019 2:40 UTC

159 points

62 comments4 min readLW link 4 reviews

(slatestarcodex.com)

On the nature of purpose

Nora_Ammann22 Jan 2021 8:30 UTC

28 points

15 comments9 min readLW link

Three enigmas at the heart of our reasoning

Alex Flint21 Sep 2021 16:52 UTC

53 points

67 comments9 min readLW link

Epistemic Strategies of Selection Theorems

adamShimi18 Oct 2021 8:57 UTC

32 points

1 comment12 min readLW link

Doxa, Episteme, and Gnosis Revisited

G Gordon Worley III20 Nov 2019 19:35 UTC

16 points

2 comments9 min readLW link

In defence of epistemic modesty

Thrasymachus29 Oct 2017 20:00 UTC

31 points

22 comments36 min readLW link

Anti-epistemology: an explanation

Basil Marte8 Jul 2020 16:34 UTC

3 points

12 comments3 min readLW link

Reversed Stupidity Is Not Intelligence

Eliezer Yudkowsky12 Dec 2007 22:14 UTC

131 points

115 comments3 min readLW link

Mixed Reference: The Great Reductionist Project

Eliezer Yudkowsky5 Dec 2012 0:26 UTC

52 points

357 comments9 min readLW link

A Pragmatic Epistemology

StephenR5 Aug 2014 5:43 UTC

2 points

21 comments6 min readLW link

Toward a New Technical Explanation of Technical Explanation

abramdemski16 Feb 2018 0:44 UTC

82 points

36 comments18 min readLW link 1 review

The Problematic Third Person Perspective

abramdemski5 Oct 2017 20:44 UTC

28 points

3 comments4 min readLW link

Radical Probabilism [Transcript]

abramdemski and Ben Pace

26 Jun 2020 22:14 UTC

46 points

12 comments6 min readLW link

Becoming Unusually Truth-Oriented

abramdemski3 Jan 2020 1:27 UTC

89 points

20 comments10 min readLW link

Do Sufficiently Advanced Agents Use Logic?

abramdemski13 Sep 2019 19:53 UTC

39 points

11 comments9 min readLW link

Some Claims Are Just Too Extraordinary

Eliezer Yudkowsky20 Jan 2007 7:14 UTC

36 points

12 comments2 min readLW link

ClearerThinking’s Fact-Checking 2.0

Stefan_Schubert22 Oct 2015 21:16 UTC

36 points

40 comments4 min readLW link

Multiple Factor Explanations Should Not Appear One-Sided

Stefan_Schubert7 Aug 2014 14:10 UTC

49 points

32 comments6 min readLW link

Some rationality tweets

Peter_de_Blanc30 Dec 2010 7:14 UTC

62 points

81 comments2 min readLW link

“On Bullshit” and “On Truth,” by Harry Frankfurt

Callmesalticidae28 Aug 2020 0:44 UTC

20 points

3 comments6 min readLW link

False Majorities

JamesAndrix3 Feb 2010 18:43 UTC

42 points

39 comments1 min readLW link

Timeless Modesty?

abramdemski24 Nov 2017 11:12 UTC

16 points

2 comments3 min readLW link

Simultaneous Overconfidence and Underconfidence

abramdemski3 Jun 2015 21:04 UTC

36 points

6 comments5 min readLW link

A List of Nuances

abramdemski10 Nov 2014 5:02 UTC

61 points

24 comments14 min readLW link

Trust the (local) expert

rk9 Apr 2018 10:22 UTC

14 points

12 comments7 min readLW link

[Question] What am I missing? (quantum physics)

kithpendragon21 Aug 2020 12:39 UTC

10 points

11 comments1 min readLW link

Excusing a Failure to Adjust

Ronny26 Aug 2020 13:51 UTC

12 points

2 comments1 min readLW link

Relabelings vs. External References

Chris_Leong20 Sep 2019 2:20 UTC

12 points

5 comments3 min readLW link

Zen and Rationality: Trust in Mind

G Gordon Worley III11 Aug 2020 20:23 UTC

24 points

3 comments4 min readLW link

The Treacherous Path to Rationality

Jacob Falkovich9 Oct 2020 15:34 UTC

188 points

116 comments11 min readLW link 1 review

No Causation without Reification

G Gordon Worley III23 Oct 2020 20:28 UTC

21 points

38 comments3 min readLW link

Referencing the Unreferencable

Chris_Leong4 Apr 2020 10:42 UTC

16 points

5 comments3 min readLW link

The Sense-Making Web

Chris_Leong4 Jan 2021 6:17 UTC

38 points

19 comments6 min readLW link

Epistemology of HCH

adamShimi9 Feb 2021 11:46 UTC

16 points

2 comments10 min readLW link

What I’d change about different philosophy fields

Rob Bensinger8 Mar 2021 18:25 UTC

55 points

52 comments4 min readLW link

AXRP Episode 5 - Infra-Bayesianism with Vanessa Kosoy

DanielFilan10 Mar 2021 4:30 UTC

28 points

12 comments35 min readLW link

Extended Picture Theory or Models inside Models inside Models

Chris_Leong10 Mar 2021 13:24 UTC

13 points

3 comments2 min readLW link

Magic Shoes

onur24 Mar 2021 21:14 UTC

11 points

0 comments3 min readLW link

Reflective Bayesianism

abramdemski6 Apr 2021 19:48 UTC

57 points

27 comments13 min readLW link

Looking Deeper at Deconfusion

adamShimi13 Jun 2021 21:29 UTC

55 points

13 comments15 min readLW link

Cryptanalysis as Epistemology? (paging cryptonerds)

SilasBarta6 Apr 2011 19:06 UTC

17 points

42 comments1 min readLW link

David Wolpert on Knowledge

Alex Flint21 Sep 2021 1:54 UTC

30 points

3 comments13 min readLW link

Intelligence, epistemics, and sanity, in three short parts

ozziegooen15 Oct 2021 4:01 UTC

13 points

2 comments3 min readLW link

Seeking a “Seeking Whence ‘Seek Whence’” Sequence

Will_Newsome25 Jun 2012 11:10 UTC

37 points

33 comments3 min readLW link

[Question] Worst Commonsense Concepts?

abramdemski15 Nov 2021 18:22 UTC

69 points

32 comments3 min readLW link

Seeking Truth Too Hard Can Keep You from Winning

G Gordon Worley III30 Nov 2021 2:16 UTC

26 points

8 comments3 min readLW link

The Problem of the Criterion is NOT an Open Problem

G Gordon Worley III6 Jan 2022 16:31 UTC

5 points

5 comments2 min readLW link

Epistemic Legibility

Elizabeth9 Feb 2022 18:10 UTC

280 points

28 comments20 min readLW link

(acesounderglass.com)

Some limitations of reductionism about epistemology

Richard_Ngo14 Feb 2022 8:50 UTC

18 points

7 comments4 min readLW link

(thinkingcomplete.blogspot.com)

An analogy as the midwife of thermodynamics

adamShimi16 Feb 2022 21:34 UTC

28 points

10 comments7 min readLW link

What The Foucault

adamShimi19 Feb 2022 22:48 UTC

36 points

6 comments3 min readLW link

The Art and Science of Intuition Pumping

adamShimi22 Feb 2022 0:18 UTC

18 points

1 comment9 min readLW link

Butterfly Ideas

Elizabeth22 Feb 2022 7:40 UTC

110 points

8 comments3 min readLW link

(acesounderglass.com)

Cryptoepistemology

davidad24 Feb 2022 20:34 UTC

29 points

3 comments2 min readLW link

Shotgun Book Reviews: Against Method, The Knowledge Machine and Understanding Nature

adamShimi14 Mar 2022 8:13 UTC

24 points

2 comments8 min readLW link

Replacing Natural Interpretations

adamShimi16 Mar 2022 13:05 UTC

13 points

0 comments7 min readLW link

Epistemic Slipperiness

Raemon11 Apr 2022 1:48 UTC

56 points

18 comments7 min readLW link

I only believe in the paranormal

Malmesbury24 May 2022 12:15 UTC

87 points

9 comments2 min readLW link

Public beliefs vs. Private beliefs

Eli Tyre1 Jun 2022 21:33 UTC

131 points

25 comments5 min readLW link

Epistemological Vigilance for Alignment

adamShimi6 Jun 2022 0:27 UTC

45 points

10 comments11 min readLW link

Limits to Legibility

Jan_Kulveit29 Jun 2022 17:42 UTC

75 points

3 comments5 min readLW link

Mathematics as a lossy compression algorithm gone wild

shminux6 Jun 2014 23:53 UTC

53 points

80 comments5 min readLW link

Chains, Bottlenecks and Optimization

curi21 Jul 2020 2:07 UTC

14 points

12 comments4 min readLW link

Bottleneck Examples

curi23 Jul 2020 18:23 UTC

11 points

0 comments9 min readLW link

[Question] Godel in second-order logic?

Abhimanyu Pallavi Sudhir26 Jul 2020 7:16 UTC

6 points

4 comments1 min readLW link

Undiscriminating Skepticism

Eliezer Yudkowsky14 Mar 2010 23:23 UTC

130 points

1,361 comments9 min readLW link

“No evidence” as a Valley of Bad Rationality

adamzerner28 Mar 2020 23:45 UTC

103 points

20 comments2 min readLW link 1 review

Argument, intuition, and recursion

paulfchristiano5 Mar 2018 1:37 UTC

42 points

13 comments9 min readLW link 1 review

Weird question: could we see distant aliens?

paulfchristiano20 Apr 2018 6:40 UTC

31 points

78 comments3 min readLW link

What is Evidence?

Eliezer Yudkowsky22 Sep 2007 6:43 UTC

122 points

52 comments3 min readLW link

Against Modest Epistemology

Eliezer Yudkowsky14 Nov 2017 20:40 UTC

61 points

49 comments15 min readLW link

Epistemic Luck

Alicorn8 Feb 2010 0:02 UTC

105 points

133 comments3 min readLW link

The Importance of Saying “Oops”

Eliezer Yudkowsky5 Aug 2007 3:17 UTC

124 points

29 comments2 min readLW link

The Skeptic’s Trilemma

Scott Alexander15 Mar 2009 0:12 UTC

80 points

15 comments5 min readLW link

Epistemic Viciousness

Eliezer Yudkowsky13 Mar 2009 23:33 UTC

97 points

93 comments3 min readLW link

Where Recursive Justification Hits Bottom

Eliezer Yudkowsky8 Jul 2008 10:16 UTC

92 points

78 comments10 min readLW link

Infinite Certainty

Eliezer Yudkowsky9 Jan 2008 6:49 UTC

66 points

128 comments4 min readLW link

How Much Evidence Does It Take?

Eliezer Yudkowsky24 Sep 2007 4:06 UTC

94 points

32 comments4 min readLW link

The Fundamental Question—Rationality computer game design

Kaj_Sotala13 Feb 2013 13:45 UTC

61 points

68 comments9 min readLW link

The Pyramid And The Garden

Scott Alexander5 Nov 2016 6:03 UTC

39 points

12 comments7 min readLW link

Novum Organum: Preface

Francis Bacon19 Sep 2019 22:51 UTC

53 points

5 comments7 min readLW link

The Principle of Predicted Improvement

Ronny23 Apr 2019 21:21 UTC

66 points

17 comments3 min readLW link

Form Your Own Opinions

Ben Pace28 Apr 2018 19:50 UTC

33 points

1 comment4 min readLW link

[Question] Have epistemic conditions always been this bad?

Wei_Dai25 Jan 2020 4:42 UTC

190 points

107 comments4 min readLW link 1 review

A Sketch of Answers for Physicalists

Chris_Leong14 Mar 2020 2:27 UTC

23 points

15 comments3 min readLW link

Argument Screens Off Authority

Eliezer Yudkowsky14 Dec 2007 0:05 UTC

82 points

83 comments5 min readLW link

The absurdity of un-referenceable entities

jessicata14 Mar 2020 17:40 UTC

22 points

21 comments4 min readLW link

(unstableontology.com)

What we Know vs. How we Know it?

Elizabeth6 Jan 2020 0:30 UTC

44 points

0 comments2 min readLW link

(acesounderglass.com)

An Overview of Formal Epistemology (links)

lukeprog6 Jan 2011 19:57 UTC

62 points

4 comments1 min readLW link

Robin Hanson on Simple, Evidence Backed Models

Raemon16 Apr 2019 22:22 UTC

36 points

11 comments1 min readLW link

(www.overcomingbias.com)

The Tragedy of the Social Epistemology Commons

Roko21 May 2010 12:42 UTC

61 points

91 comments4 min readLW link

Fundamental Doubts

Eliezer Yudkowsky12 Jul 2008 5:21 UTC

33 points

87 comments4 min readLW link

But Somebody Would Have Noticed

Alicorn4 May 2010 18:56 UTC

38 points

258 comments4 min readLW link

This Territory Does Not Exist

ike13 Aug 2020 0:30 UTC

7 points

199 comments7 min readLW link

Many-worlds versus discrete knowledge

jessicata13 Aug 2020 18:35 UTC

20 points

27 comments1 min readLW link

(unstableontology.com)

Bayesian Flame

cousin_it26 Jul 2009 16:49 UTC

41 points

163 comments4 min readLW link

Common sense as a prior

Nick_Beckstead11 Aug 2013 18:18 UTC

52 points

215 comments27 min readLW link

You only need faith in two things

Eliezer Yudkowsky10 Mar 2013 23:45 UTC

46 points

86 comments2 min readLW link

Natural Laws Are Descriptions, not Rules

pragmatist8 Aug 2012 4:27 UTC

39 points

236 comments9 min readLW link

Individual vs. Group Epistemic Rationality

Wei_Dai2 Mar 2010 21:46 UTC

32 points

54 comments2 min readLW link

[LINK] Why taking ideas seriously is probably a bad thing to do

David_Gerard5 Jan 2013 23:37 UTC

32 points

44 comments1 min readLW link

Frugality and working from finite data

Snowyowl3 Sep 2010 9:37 UTC

35 points

47 comments4 min readLW link

Epistemology and the Psychology of Human Judgment

badger28 May 2011 5:15 UTC

44 points

9 comments11 min readLW link

Look Under the Light Post

G Gordon Worley III16 Jul 2018 22:19 UTC

22 points

8 comments4 min readLW link

Many Weak Arguments vs. One Relatively Strong Argument

JonahS4 Jun 2013 3:32 UTC

32 points

87 comments11 min readLW link

Some clarifications concerning my “many weak arguments” post

JonahS7 Jun 2013 19:34 UTC

5 points

2 comments4 min readLW link

The Short Case for Verificationism

ike11 Sep 2020 18:48 UTC

6 points

58 comments1 min readLW link

Kenshō

Valentine20 Jan 2018 0:12 UTC

64 points

273 comments6 min readLW link

Epistemic Tenure

Scott Garrabrant18 Feb 2019 22:56 UTC

89 points

27 comments3 min readLW link

The Universe Doesn’t Have to Play Nice

Chris_Leong6 Jan 2020 2:08 UTC

16 points

8 comments2 min readLW link

Bead Jar Guesses

Alicorn4 May 2009 18:59 UTC

21 points

134 comments2 min readLW link

More thoughts on assertions

Scott Alexander25 Mar 2010 1:39 UTC

28 points

31 comments6 min readLW link

Raven Paradox Revisited

Chris_Leong15 Apr 2018 0:08 UTC

5 points

12 comments2 min readLW link

Hygienic Anecdotes

badger29 Mar 2009 5:46 UTC

10 points

11 comments1 min readLW link

JFK was not assassinated: prior probability zero events

Stuart_Armstrong27 Apr 2016 11:47 UTC

37 points

48 comments3 min readLW link

The Use of Many Independent Lines of Evidence: The Basel Problem

JonahS3 Jun 2013 4:42 UTC

38 points

44 comments5 min readLW link

Epistemic vs. Instrumental Rationality: Approximations

Peter_de_Blanc28 Apr 2009 3:12 UTC

29 points

29 comments1 min readLW link

Ethics has Evidence Too

Jack6 Feb 2010 6:28 UTC

26 points

57 comments3 min readLW link

Rationalist Role in the Information Age

byrnema30 Apr 2009 18:24 UTC

7 points

19 comments3 min readLW link

How to tell apart science from pseudo-science in a field you don’t know ?

kilobug2 Sep 2012 10:25 UTC

34 points

71 comments1 min readLW link

The Prediction Hierarchy

RobinZ19 Jan 2010 3:36 UTC

28 points

38 comments3 min readLW link

Dutch Books and Decision Theory: An Introduction to a Long Conversation

Jack21 Dec 2010 4:55 UTC

29 points

102 comments7 min readLW link

The First Sample Gives the Most Information

Mark Xu24 Dec 2020 20:39 UTC

117 points

14 comments1 min readLW link 1 review

(markxu.com)

Out-of-body reasoning (OOBR)

Jon Zero9 Jan 2021 16:10 UTC

5 points

0 comments4 min readLW link

Fittingness: Rational success in concept formation

Polytopos10 Jan 2021 15:58 UTC

6 points

9 comments6 min readLW link

epistemic stalling.

Alfred10 Jan 2021 9:24 UTC

−2 points

18 comments1 min readLW link

Bayesian inference on 1st order logic

Daniel Abolafia3 Feb 2021 1:03 UTC

11 points

6 comments18 min readLW link

Objective truth?

pchvykov15 Feb 2021 21:47 UTC

1 point

0 comments2 min readLW link

Heliocentrism in the ancient era

ForensicOceanography16 Feb 2021 8:34 UTC

16 points

6 comments6 min readLW link

(forensicoceanography.wordpress.com)

How Strong is Our Connection to Truth?

anorangicc17 Feb 2021 0:10 UTC

1 point

5 comments3 min readLW link

Are dogs bad?

qbolec11 Mar 2021 8:11 UTC

9 points

1 comment1 min readLW link

The secret of Wikipedia’s success

Aaron Bergman14 Apr 2021 22:18 UTC

64 points

10 comments6 min readLW link

(aaronbergman.substack.com)

Research Motivations and “The Division of Cognitive Labor”

Aidan_Kierans16 May 2021 0:00 UTC

4 points

3 comments5 min readLW link

On “Epistemic Trespassing” and Intellectual Modesty

Aidan_Kierans16 May 2021 0:40 UTC

9 points

4 comments9 min readLW link

Christenson’s “Epistemology of Disagreement: The Good News”

Aidan_Kierans16 May 2021 3:58 UTC

1 point

0 comments5 min readLW link

Good Macro, Bad Micro

Ilemauzar4 Jun 2021 4:30 UTC

14 points

2 comments1 min readLW link

Paper Review: Mathematical Truth

Alex Hollow30 May 2021 20:25 UTC

5 points

14 comments3 min readLW link

(alexhollow.wordpress.com)

Mainstream Epistemology for LessWrong, Part 1: Feldman on Evidentialism

ChrisHallquist16 Nov 2013 16:16 UTC

29 points

84 comments6 min readLW link

Neo-Mohism

Bae's Theorem16 Jun 2021 21:57 UTC

5 points

11 comments5 min readLW link

CGP Grey on the difficulty of knowing what’s true [audio]

DanielFilan13 Jul 2021 20:40 UTC

23 points

5 comments1 min readLW link

(www.relay.fm)

In Praise (and Defence) of The People

Olitness27 Jul 2021 7:13 UTC

−8 points

4 comments14 min readLW link

(olitness.wordpress.com)

More Useful Way of Answering “Mind vs. Body” Problem

Olitness27 Jul 2021 7:13 UTC

9 points

4 comments2 min readLW link

(olitness.wordpress.com)

Request for comment on a novel reference work of understanding

ender12 Aug 2021 0:06 UTC

3 points

0 comments9 min readLW link

Truthful AI: Developing and governing AI that does not lie

Owain_Evans, owencb and Lanrian

18 Oct 2021 18:37 UTC

81 points

9 comments10 min readLW link

[Linkpost] Danger of motivatiogenesis in interdisciplinary work

particlemania25 Nov 2021 0:13 UTC

9 points

0 comments1 min readLW link

COVID Skepticism Isn’t About Science

jaspax29 Dec 2021 17:53 UTC

125 points

77 comments7 min readLW link

Becoming Stronger as Epistemologist: Introduction

adamShimi15 Feb 2022 6:15 UTC

29 points

2 comments4 min readLW link

Effects are correlated, policy outcomes are not, and multi-factor explanations are hard

Thomas Kehrenberg9 Mar 2022 15:30 UTC

15 points

2 comments14 min readLW link

(tm.kehrenberg.net)

Magic, tricks, and high-dimensional configuration spaces

pchvykov26 Mar 2022 19:14 UTC

7 points

2 comments2 min readLW link

The Explanatory Gap of AI

David Valdman7 Apr 2022 18:28 UTC

1 point

0 comments4 min readLW link

I Think Therefore Someone Is Or Was?

Matt Goldwater24 Apr 2022 17:09 UTC

2 points

4 comments1 min readLW link

Maybe I 100% Know Something. But I Probably Won’t Be Able To 100% Explain It

Matt Goldwater1 May 2022 17:13 UTC

3 points

0 comments3 min readLW link

My Take On Philosophy

Matt Goldwater22 May 2022 16:43 UTC

2 points

2 comments7 min readLW link

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