The comments on my last post reminded me of how much scientific “stuff” we really don’t know, epistemologically, so this is just a quick reminder. Since we don’t do experiments ourselves and only learn about them after they’ve gone through many hands and eyes, and through a massive popularization filter (looking at you, I Fucking Love Science), does nearly all of the explicitly scientific content we know fail the basic knowledge test that epistemologists propose? If so, what’s the “nearest” we need to be to scientific fact for us to declare that we’ve met our epistemic duty? To wit, my brother is a biochemical researcher. Would any (understandable) knowledge he gives me qualify as a true belief for me, since he really uses the scientific method himself and I know him to be trustworthy?
Also related to the last post, but not to the scientific process per se: Theology: Has it become too Propositional?