Our Epistemic Crisis

Epistemology is a big word, but all it means is the study of knowledge. For millennia, philosopher’s have discussed and debated theories of knowledge, trying to get a grasp on what knowledge is, how knowledge is acquired, and how it can be judged whether one has knowledge of something. 

So what is an “Epistemic Crisis” then? Here is the definition according to Wiktionary:

1. A crisis in which the normal competition between epistemic regimes or components thereof crescendoes to the extent that peoples, nations, or other human groups either lose their sense that they share perceptions of common reality or pretend to lose it for purposes of tactical or strategic feint in a power struggle. In other words a crisis where there is no agreed upon reality.
2. Any other crisis of epistemics or epistemology, such as a replication crisis.

This part of the definition is worth repeating, “In other words a crisis where there is no agreed upon reality.” I believe that we are seeing just such a crisis emerge before our eyes, literally on our screens. The Epistemic Crisis is being driven by a major change in how we consume information about our world. In the previous century we were passive recipients of information, hearing about our world from newspapers, a small number of TV news broadcasts, and some telephone game word-of-mouth. In the current century we are active seekers of the narratives we find most compelling, helped along by a cacophony of channels and algorithms to keep us engaged with our biases. This fundamental change has resulted in our Epistemic Crisis.

In 2025, what we believe to be true may diverge widely from what our neighbors believe, and even the beliefs of our own family members. For example, there continues to be wide disagreement over whether the US Presidential election in 2020 was free and fair or stolen through voter fraud. A traditionally normal way of deciding such a thing, like the US courts, is only believed if you agree with the outcome, otherwise it’s the weaponization of justice. The “channels of confusion” have permeated our lives to the point at which a shared reality has broken down, because there is always a channel that will reinforce whichever view best aligns with our predispositions.

I published a blog article back in 2011 called “Wireless Politics: The Future of Democracy”, which described the changes happening in media at the time and what they could entail. This passage feels right on the money.

“Despite weakening the biases and gate-keeping of the old media regime, not all the developments of new media disruption are positive for democracy. The individual and customizable media experience promoted by wireless internet doesn’t solve the problem of information bias just because consumers become the gate-keepers. Monetizing content on the internet, which is typically free, will also require advertising dollars, with businesses looking to filter content in order to create a good selling environment (Bennett 248). The fragmentation of information caused by a personalized media experience may also be contributing to the break of the social reality and the tendency of people to conflate information that supports their predisposed opinions with facts due to the reduction of authoritative sources (Bennett 250-251). There is no filter for truth on the internet, like the dissemination, as fact, of a false story that Oliver North called for Osama Bin Laden’s assassination in 1987 (Jackson, Jamieson). It has been suggested that personalized gate-keeping on internet news has led to widespread belief in conspiracy theories; like that 9/11 was an inside job (Taibbi 302). While wireless devices have the power to overcome some of the systemic issues with the traditional dynamic between media and politics, there are other challenges that will develop which may have unintended and negative consequences.” ~ Jared Endicott

So what are we to do about our Epistemic Crisis? The next Realizing News article will have some suggestions for how to find truth in the post-truth era.

Written by Jared Endicott