[comment]: # (Compile this presentation with the command below) [comment]: # (mdslides docs.md --include dist) [comment]: # (...or by running the Makefile with "make") ### How to explore ideas & beliefs 1. [Prepare](#/1) 2. [Build rapport](#/2) 3. [Find & confirm a claim](#/3) 4. [Clarify terms](#/4) 5. [Assess & calibrate confidence](#/5) 6. [Explore reasons & reliability](#/6) 7. [Summarize & pause to think](#/7) \ *Swipe ↓about, →continue*

#### What is Street Epistemology (SE)? * A way to help us have bet­ter talks about hard topics. * A conversatio­nal tool­box for explo­ring ideas and beliefs. * A step towards lear­ning col­laborative thinking. * A community that prac­tices SE in a frien­dly environment. \ Swipe ↓more, →continue

#### What is Epistemology? The field of Philosophy focusing on *how* we know what we know. <br> * *«How do we know if something is true?»* * *«Which methods and tools can we employ to determine this?»* \ With SE we try to bring this out of academia and into everyday life. \ Swipe ↓more, →continue

### About this site * It's a short in­tro­duc­tion and over­view of Street Episte­mology (SE). * … a reminder of use­ful tips when prac­ti­cing SE. * … a tool to [share](#/8) with anyone interested. \ Swipe →continue

### 1. Prepare * Recording? **Ask for consent**. * Do you want to learn, empathize or change their mind? * Be honest about your intentions upfront. * Are you also open to changing your own mind? * Explain and [share](#/8) this method! \ Bring something to take notes with!

#### Expect from yourself 🚧 * Explore *how* they know what they know. * When in doubt, focus on *tech­nique* instead of *topic*. * Listen without presumption. * Avoid *only* using this guide. There's [more to learn](#/8/1)! \ *«Be the open mind you want to encounter!»*

#### Expect from them 🚧 * They dislike *scripted* conversations. * … or «interviewing». * … or being embarrassed. * … or made to feel cornered. * Triumphing & *gotcha* moments are coun­ter­productive!

### 2. Build rapport * Establish a **friendly tone** & maintain it. * Show you're inter­ested & listening. * Share what You have in common. * Show curiosity.

#### Patience & practice *Keeping a frien­dly tone is critical for success*. <br> * *Be patient* – It's fine to have seve­ral chats before pro­ce­eding with hard topics. * *Don't offer facts* – Unless asked. * *Stay cool* – Avoiding *topic rebut­tal* (offering facts) may require practice! * *Improve* – [Practice SE with strangers](#/8/1).

### 3. Find & confirm a claim * *«Do you have a claim you want to explore?»* * Find or suggest a **single topic**. * Phrase the topic in the form of a claim. * Ask if it's a good claim to explore together. * *Don't rush when considering claims.* \ Take notes!

#### Good & bad claims * ✅ Claim is specific & clear. * ✅ … Foundational or im­portant. * ✅ *«I believe …»* * ❌ *«I don't believe …»* * ⚠️ … Trivial or obvious. * ⚠️ Stop if the claim supports a [Safety Net](#/3/2)!

#### When to abort early Here, a *Safety Net* is a belief that pre­vents an individual from doing harm to them­selves or others. \ *«My Belief helped me be­come sober, and without it I would probably drink myself to death.»* \ SE is not always the right tool to use, and it is **not therapy**. Please do no harm!

### 4. Clarify terms * *«What do you mean when you say …?»* * In your own words, **repeat** what you hear. * **Confirm** if you under­stand correctly. * Identify, clarify & qualify words that may confuse. \ Take notes!

#### Politeness & clarity Adopt a learner's atti­tude – *«I want to understand.»* \ Use *their* de­fini­tions. \ Qualify terms – *«True»* vs. *«True for me»* vs. *«True for all.»*

#### Learner's attitude 🚧 * Be self-directed – ask about the things you are curious about. * Be open-minded – who knows what you can learn? * Be single-minded – focus on one topic until you grasp it. * Be responsible – don't just acknowledge, but *learn to know*.

#### Ask, don't tell 🚧 * ✅ *«Can you help me under­stand what you mean with …»* * ✅ *«Do I understand you correctly …»* * ✅ *«How do I explain to someone else …»* * ❌ *«Don't you think that …»* * ❌ *«Are you saying that …»* * ❌ *«How do you justify …»*

### 5. Assess & calibrate confidence * *«How **confident** are you … is true?»* 0–100% * *«What would move you up just a bit?»* * *«What would move you down?»* * *«What could change your mind?»*

* At 100%, *«Would any­thing increase your con­fidence even higher?»* * *«How would physical evidence change your con­fidence?»* * At 0%, *«What reasons do you think others have for being higher?»* * Above 0%, *«Why not lower?»* * Below 100%, *«Why not higher?»*

#### Finding underlying claims * *«If this reason was un­avail­able to you, would it change your con­fi­dence level?»* * *«… and **if not, what else** is keeping you at your level?»* * [Switching topic](#/3) is fine! \ *«Claim 2 seems to be important for your belief in claim 1. Would you mind if we explore it instead?»*

### 6. Explore reasons & reliability * **What reasons** did they use to arrive at their belief? * Assess the quality of these reasons. * What can we do to de­termine a reason is sound? * If our methods are un­reli­able, would the as­sess­ment change?

#### The key goal of SE * Explore the reliability of methods used when forming a belief. * *How* questions are bet­ter than *Why* & *What.* * Embrace their pauses. * *«Let's go through the steps together.»* * *«How can we be con­fident if our methods aren't reliable?»*

#### Recognizing bad reasons * ❌ [Informal fallacies](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fallacies#Informal_fallacies), like *Appeals to auth­ority*, *ig­no­rance* or *tradition.* * ❌ [Cognitive biases](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_bias#List_of_biases), like *Con­fir­mation bias*, *Av­ail­abi­lity heu­ris­tic* and *Moti­vated reasoning.* * ❌ Sources don't pass [the C.R.A.A.P. test](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/CRAAP_test). \ *«If a text only offers thoughts I agree with, how can I know it is truthful?»*

#### Explore reasoning I **The outsider test** – *«Would some­one using your rea­sons, but coming from a different position reach the same conclusion?»* **The consultant test** – *«How would you evaluate this situation if it wasn’t your situation?»* **The double standard test** – *«Am I judging other people’s reasoning by a standard I wouldn’t apply to myself?»*

#### Explore reasoning II **The conformity test** – *«If other people no longer held this view, would you still hold it?»* **The status quo bias test** – *«If your current situation was not the status quo, would you actively choose it?»* **The selective skeptic test** – *«If the same reasoning supported a different conclusion, how credible would you judge it to be?»*

### 7. Summarize & pause to think * Try to end with *wonder* or *aporia*. * Success is when **both are happy** to have had the conversation. * If you can, offer to con­tinue the chat later. * Give them a printed [Introducing.SE card](dist/media/introducing-se-card-2021-01.pdf)! \ [🔙 *to start*](#)

#### Reasons to return Some conversations may re­quire several sessions. \ End your sessions on a positive note, with some­thing they can wonder about! \ *«That was a good ques­tion. You're making me think!»*

[](https://streetepistemology.com) ###### Street Epistemology [](https://introducing.se) ###### Introducing.SE

### Learn more * Join The Street Epistemology community! You can find it on [Discord](https://discord.gg/sKap3zM) and [elsewhere](https://streetepistemology.com/community). * Find SE videos, blogs, tutorials, books and other resources on [streetepistemology.com](https://streetepistemology.com/).

### About <p xmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#" xmlns:dct="http://purl.org/dc/terms/"><a property="dct:title" rel="cc:attributionURL" href="https://introducing.se">Introducing.SE</a> & content, by <a rel="cc:attributionURL dct:creator" property="cc:attributionName" href="https://twitter.com/sjoshuan">Salve J. Nilsen</a> & others, is licensed <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/?ref=chooser-v1" target="_blank" rel="license noopener noreferrer" style="display:inline-block;">CC-BY-SA-4.0 International <img style="height:22px!important;margin-left:3px;vertical-align:text-bottom;" src="https://mirrors.creativecommons.org/presskit/icons/cc.svg?ref=chooser-v1"><img style="height:22px!important;margin-left:3px;vertical-align:text-bottom;" src="https://mirrors.creativecommons.org/presskit/icons/by.svg?ref=chooser-v1"><img style="height:22px!important;margin-left:3px;vertical-align:text-bottom;" src="https://mirrors.creativecommons.org/presskit/icons/sa.svg?ref=chooser-v1"></a></p> #### Contribute 🚧 Source code and content is on [Github](https://github.com/sjn/introducing-se/).