Epistemic Transformation By Linda Stowe
Today I would like to discuss epistemic transformation. My grasp of the concept is a bit tenuous, so bear with me. We’re talking broad strokes here, not the details of chapter and verse.
This all came about as I was thinking about coffee. Any little kid who grows up with coffee-drinking parents knows that the smell of brewing coffee is nothing like the taste of coffee itself. The smell is warm and seductive, but the taste is bitter and off-putting, at least to first-timers.
I thought there must be a name for that, something that describes the new knowledge one gains about something as they experience it for the first time. It is the “what we think something is like” vs. “what it is really like.” Epistemic transformation describes the change that takes place in our understanding of something.
Not every new experience is a surprise. Bacon tastes pretty much like bacon smells, so there’s no surprise there. But it’s the surprises we encounter that describe all the trial and error involved in learning. Little kids read about friendly Mother Goose only to be shocked the first time they encounter actual geese, to my mind the most ill-tempered of birds. If they come away from the experience thinking about geese in a different way, that’s epistemic transformation. Or more plainly, changing their mind.
The older we get, it seems like the less open we are to epistemic transformation since we’ve had a lifetime of drinking bitter coffee and being chased by geese. We know what’s what. But do we? When was the last time you changed your mind about something?
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Polly here. I thought this was an excellent, excellent piece.
It caused me to think about the last time I changed my mind. As I’ve mentioned in past blogs, I am a creature of habit. I follow a routine. So things rarely waver in my typical goings-on of things.
But here recently, I’ve been trying to reevaluate everything I do. I am looking at all my behaviors, including my routines, and trying to decide if anything isn’t working.
I think it is a good thing for us to be open to new ideas, new ways of looking at things, and even trying things that we may have tried before. This could be anything from giving coffee another try or going back to college to get that degree you always wanted.
Giving new thoughts a chance.
And if you don’t believe me, how about these good folks?
“The measure of intelligence is the ability to change.”
— Albert Einstein
“Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.”
— George Bernard Shaw
“It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.”
— Aristotle
“Be open to learning new lessons, even if they contradict the lessons you learned yesterday.”
— Ellen DeGeneres
“Do not be too certain of your own conclusions, or you may blind yourself to other possibilities.”
— Bertrand Russell
