Street Epistemology

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Street Epistemology (often abbreviated to SE) is the name given to a set of conversational techniques concerning a strongly held belief, designed to promote thoughtful reflection and open-mindedness in a participant regarding the belief. The term Street Epistemology was coined by Peter Boghossian and popularized by Anthony Magnabosco.

Description

Street Epistemology is the name given to a set of conversational techniques designed to promote thoughtful reflection and doxastic openness in a subject, concerning a belief they hold and the process by which they came to hold that belief (their epistemology). It is largely based around the Socratic method, and as such the practice of Street Epistemology typically takes the form of an interview, with one person asking socratic questions to help the other party explore their belief.

Street Epistemology serves as a method for engaging in civil conversation about deeply-held beliefs with the goal of avoiding adversarial interactions, such as a debate or confrontation, where counter-productive phenomena such as the backfire effect are possible. Some practitioners (or "Street Epistemologists") encourage their subjects to engage in further SE interviews with them at a later time.

Development

The term "Street Epistemology" was coined by Peter Boghossian in his book A Manual for Creating Atheists, in which he outlined the method and its application in helping religious believers to reflect on the reliability of faith as an epistemology. However, it has found effective use in many other contexts, and Boghossian later co-authored (alongside James Lindsay) How to Have Impossible Conversations, which describes the application of Street Epistemology to a wide range of beliefs.

Although the method was created by Peter Boghossian, it has largely been popularised by Anthony Magnabosco, who has uploaded many examples of SE conversations to a YouTube channel, created many resources surrounding the topic, and engages with a community of Street Epistemologists looking to become proficient in the method and apply it in their lives. Magnabosco is the founder of Street Epistemology International, a non-profit organisation "whose mission is to encourage and normalize critical thinking and skepticism while providing people around the world with the resources needed to develop and promote Street Epistemology."

Methodology

There is no single definitive method of Street Epistemology, as it varies between practitioners, however, there are some key elements to the method which are common to most examples. Typically some of the components of the socratic method are used in SE, such as initial presentation of a proposition by the interlocutor (for example "I believe in Karma"), and the elenchus itself, however there are additional elements and techniques which distinguish SE from a purely socratic dialogue. One such element is the focus on gaining a mutual understanding of the claim itself, which often involves defining terms where needed, repeating back the interlocutor's belief and asking for clarification if it has not been understood.

Another commonly used element is a "confidence scale". This involves asking for the interlocutor's confidence in their belief, after their claim has been presented, and sometimes at the end of the conversation. This has a dual purpose: firstly, to help the interlocutor reflect on how strongly they hold their belief, and assess whether they are open to the possibility of being mistaken, and secondly, where the confidence scale is employed at the end of the conversation, both conversation partners can gain an understanding of whether the interviewee's confidence in their belief has been affected by the interview.

Aside from the specific conversational techniques, there are some general behaviours which are often seen as part of an effective SE interview. These include, for example, attempting, as the interviewer, to set one's own beliefs aside, and not to let these interfere with an otherwise neutral examination of the interlocutor's belief. To this end, many practitioners (or "Street Epistemologists") will refrain from explicitly including their own belief in the conversation, unless asked. Another general behaviour which is promoted as effective in SE interviews is the modelling of open-mindedness or "doxastic openness". This means that an interviewer should try to be open to new information, and be ready to learn from their interlocutor if they hold a belief they can demonstrate is true. The reason this is effective is that, anecdotally, open-mindedness in one conversation partner encourages open-mindedness in the other.

Resources are available for the community of practitioners, which include a guide on how to perform SE interviews.

Community

The technique has been popularized using the YouTube platform, and unofficial online communities for discussing and practicing Street Epistemology exist on several social media platforms including Facebook groups, subreddits, and Discord communities.

Criticism

Some criticisms of the method have been levelled, particularly by Christian apologists. The claim has been made that the method itself is biased towards evidence-based epistemologies, which favours materialism or naturalism, and against such epistemologies as presuppositionalism. It has also garnered criticism that it is unfair to ask someone intellectually inexperienced on a topic to defend their belief in regard to that topic.

References

This article "Street Epistemology" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Street Epistemology. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.

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