Believing Bullshit: How Not to Get Sucked into an Intellectual Black Hole by Stephen Law

Author:Stephen Law
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Prometheus Books
Published: 2011-05-19T05:00:00+00:00

W

hen someone's claim is challenged, and they find themselves struggling to come up with a rational reply, they will often resort to saying, “Look, I just know!”

How reasonable is this response? It depends. Sometimes, by “I just know,” people mean you should just take their word for it, perhaps because time is short and the evidence supporting their belief is too complex to present in a convenient sound-bite.

Suppose, for example, I'm asked how I know Tom can be trusted to pay back the five dollars you just loaned him. I could spend five minutes rehearsing several bits of evidence that would, together, show my claim was reasonable but that would take time and effort. So, instead I say, “Look, I just know, okay!” To which I might add, “Take my word for it!” And, if you know me to be a pretty good judge of character, you'll probably be justified in doing so.

Another situation in which it might be appropriate for me to say, “I just know” is to flag up that, rather than coming to a belief on the basis of evidence, I can, say, just see, clearly and directly, that such-and-such is the case.

Suppose I'm looking out the window and see our good friend Frank. You're convinced Frank is away on vacation, so you ask me if I'm sure. I might say, “Look, I just know it's Frank.” What I'm trying to convey is that I can see, very clearly, that it really is Frank. I'm not just hazarding a guess that it's Frank on the basis of some passing resemblance (the shape of the back of his head, say). Again, knowing me to be a reliable witness, you would probably be justified in taking my word for it.

So saying “I just know” isn't always an inappropriate response to requests for supporting evidence. But then suppose I am asked how I know that God exists or whether crystals really can cure people. Why can't it be appropriate and reasonable for me to also say, “Look, I just know!” in such situations?

Maybe, just as I might directly experience Frank walking down the path to my front door, so I might directly experience God. I might just see, as it were, very clearly, that God really does exist. And if it's reasonable for you to take my word about Frank, then why isn't it reasonable for you to take my word about God?

Or, if I have a wealth of evidence that crystals really do have miraculous healing properties, but it would take considerable effort to organize that evidence into a cogent argument—effort I can't reasonably be expected to make under the circumstances—why isn't it appropriate for me to say, “Look, I just know crystals have these powers”? And if it's reasonable for you to take my word for it about Tom's trustworthiness, why isn't it reasonable for you to take my word about the healing power of crystals?

We can now begin to see why saying, “I just know!” offers those

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