Content-type: text/html Downes.ca ~ Stephen's Web ~ Why I Am No Longer a Sceptic

Stephen Downes

Knowledge, Learning, Community

This essay makes a number of interesting points. Supporters of this or that sort of realism will not be buoyed by the author's rejection of scepticism - because what he is rejecting is not the sceptical stance itself, but the definition of knowledge and reason that makes him a sceptic. "The nerds won, decades ago, and they're now as thoroughly established as any other part of the establishment. And while nerds a relatively new elite, they're overwhelmingly the same as the old: rich, white, male, and desperate to hang onto what they've got. And I have come to realise that skepticism, in their hands, is just another tool to secure and advance their privileged position, and beat down their inferiors." Challenging. And I find myself agreeing with him. (See also: the cult of Bayes's Theorem).

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Stephen Downes Stephen Downes, Casselman, Canada
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