I'm Maggie Smith, and this is the slowdown.

How do you know what you know?

When you say you know something to be true, how did you arrive there?

The branch of philosophy that tackles these big questions is called epistemology.

It focuses on the nature, origin, and limits of human knowledge. In other words, it explores how we investigate ideas and come to conclusions.

Epistemology addresses what can be known, how knowledge is acquired, and what differentiates knowledge from belief. To have faith in something is different from having knowledge of it.

Believing is different from knowing.

But what's the difference exactly?

Since Plato's time, knowledge has been defined as justified true belief. But this leads

us down another rabbit hole, or a network of rabbit holes. What qualifies as justification, as a kind of proof?

I've been thinking about this a lot lately.

In times like these, when we are so divided as Americans,

part of that divide isn't just about beliefs, but about knowledge, facts.

I'm sure I'm not alone in having family members whose source of news is very different from my own.

The stories I read and hear about

are not the stories they read and hear about.

Or, if they are, the coverage,

and the message behind that coverage is very different.

It used to be that we differed in our beliefs,

but I always felt we at least had a shared understanding of the facts.

We might interpret those facts differently, but facts were facts.

That, unfortunately, feels quaint now.

...