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An Epistemological Framework
One of the wonders of modern life is the availability of troves of information (or misinformation). A person can spend a lifetime delving into topics of interest. For most of us, that means going deep on one or two topics but just scratching the surface on others. Most of the time we don't notice that we are only scratching the surface. Why would we?
Epistemology is the study of knowledge. This framework is a simple 5 step paradigm for obtaining knowledge.
The Framework
Ignorance
Awareness
Highlights
Idolization
Critical Examination
Ignorance
The first stage is self-explanitory. Nothing is known about the topic.
Awareness
The second stage is simply an awareness of the topic.
Highlights
The third stage is the area of big, generalized bits of information about the topic. There are a lot of gaps as this stage does not attempt to go deep. The highlight stage is sufficient for most of our new information. For example, I don't need to learn everything about nuclear reactors, but I should know some key concepts, especially if I live near one. (Fun fact - I live near two.)
Idolization
Idolization is a subtle movement beyond the Highlights stage. The gaps created in the previous stage are filled with our personal and communal biases. Contraditions are minimalized or ignored.
Critical Examination
To truly obtain knowledge, we must become aware of our biases and confront them. Contradictions are no longer a threat to the attachment of our current understanding, but an invitation to dive deeper.
The framework is linear at the beginning and cyclical at the end. In other words, we can only be ignorant of a topic once. As soon as we learn something about that topic, we are no longer ignorant. We now have awareness. If we move through a topic to critical examination, we will likely still hold some biases. Continual learning on a topic can expose those biases and lead us to a deeper understanding. But that deeper understanding is not a static phase. There will always be a bias to overcome. Thus, the later stages of the framework - Idolization and Critical Examination - are cyclical, or better yet, spiral, in nature.
Example 1 - The Amish
Here is a step-by-step of each stage of the framework using the Amish as an example. Any example can be used. Any topic that requires further exploration can be moved through this framework.
Ignorance - I've never heard of the Amish before. I have no idea what the word means.
Awareness - I know it refers to a group of people in Pennsylvania, United States.
Highlights - I know that the Amish are a Christian community in the USA and Canada. They reject many modern conveniences like electricity and cars. They are mostly rural, making a living by farming. Their main form of transportation is a horse and buggy. They can raise a timberframe barn in one day.
Idolization - Their life is one of peace and simplicity. Our modern life is too chaotic with computers, phones, busy schedules, and trying to outdo the neighbors with a new t.v. or car. The Amish have figured out how to live a simple, fulfilling life.
Critical Examination
I can't really write an example of Critical Examination. At this point in the framework, a person would realize there are variations within each community. They will also discover that the simple life they saw while on a tour bus touring the Amish farm lands of Lancaster, Pennsylvania is complex. Amish on vacation, young Amish going through Rumspringa, Amish access to medicine, internal divisions on religious teaching, etc. Nothing is as simple as it seems and that includes the Amish.
Example 2 - WordPress
The second example involves a web technology. The framework is not just for learning about people. It is a framework for learning anything.
Ignorance - I don't know what WordPress is. I have never heard of the word.
Awareness - I know that WordPress is a tool to create websites.
Highlights - I know that WordPress started out as a blogging tool for the web but expanded to a complete website creation tool. It is free and easy to use.
Idolization - WordPress powers 40 percent of the web. It is extensible with plugins, which means if you want it to do something that's not a native functionality of the app, a developer can write a plugin to perform the desired action. It is the best Content Managent System available!
Critical Examination
This is where the pros and cons of WordPress are fairly compared.
Just the Gaps, Please
We don't have to go through all the stages of every piece of new information. The Highlights stage is sufficient for most of our knowledge, even though it leaves many gaps. For example, I may run across the word "Bruderhof" while reading a novel. My journey through the framework might be something like this:
Ignorance - I don't know what Bruderhof means. I have never heard of the word.
Awareness - I know that Bruderhof is a Christian community in Europe.
Highlights - I know that the Bruderhof community is similar to the Amish and Mennonite communities. They are in various countries throughout the world.
That's all I need to know. In this example, I only need to learn Bruderhof for the novel I'm reading. So the Highlight stage is a sufficient terminus for my learning on this topic. If I meet someone who is or was in a Bruderhof community, I may want to continue through the framework. But for most of our knowledge journey, ending at the Highlight phase is adequate.
Manipulating the Gaps
The gaps can also be manipulated. This happens when a person or community wants to control a narrative and make it a mythology. For example, some martial artists trainied with a teacher and traveled to a new land, claiming to be the sole inheritor of that teacher's system. Before the internet, it was difficult to dispute such claims. They created a mythology of their past. This still happens today. Even though the internet provides lots of information, it cannot prove or dispute everything. Diets are notorious for this. A person might claim to have a series of physical ailments that were miraculously cured with the switch to a particular diet (e.g. Keto, Paleo, all beef, etc.). When this happens, the Highlights stage becomes a mythology.
Conclusion
There is an overwhelming amount of information available to most of the people in the world. The epistemological framework is an attempt to identify the various stages of obtaining knowledge. It can help us identify our biases and raise a red flag when someone uses it to create a mythology.