Toward an epistemology of the JFK assassination
These pages are the overhead transparencies from the introductory talk on epistemology that I gave at our class's symposium on the JFK assassination in spring 1999. I am adding them to this year's web because they are so relevant to our rigorous approach to the evidence of the assassination and because they go into certain aspects of it in more detail that is yet available in the section on critical thinking. In due time I will transform these materials into a full-blown essay. In the meantime, here are the raw materials. Comments are always welcome.
Major questions after 35 years
Two possible answers to the questions
How to decide whether the problem is data or thinking
Introduction to epistemology
The nature of knowledge
The sources of knowledge
The validity of
knowledge
The limits (extent) of
knowledge
The goal of epistemology
The fundamental goal of our JFK epistemology
Important preliminaries
Initial assumptions
Define important terms
Three important
concepts: probability, belief, and proof
Types of evidence
How to rank evidence
C. Drago's
"refutation" of strong vs. weak evidence
The three stages of using evidence
Basic requirements of any JFK epistemology
A provisional epistemology of the JFK assassination
The modified scientific method
What happens if we don't list every possible answer?
What happens if we don't include all the relevant evidence?
What happens if we allow weak (uncertain) evidence into our system?
(Note on evidence that is strong but indirect)
What happens if we don't list all answers consistent with the strong
evidence?
What happens if we don't follow the Principle of Parsimony?
What happens if we don't test our answer rigorously?
What happens if you are not your own harshest critic?
Commonsense justification of our modified scientific method
Who can dispute an approach that...
Formal statement of multiple working hypotheses
Informal statement of multiple working hypotheses
Summary of technique of multiple hypotheses
Example of the modified scientific method: the SBT
Trial evidence sheet for the single-bullet theory (SBT)
The assassination as viewed through the eyes of this epistemology
When do we have enough evidence?
Question 1: Why am I so willing to stop with the available evidence?
Question 2: How does my sequence of steps differ from those of other people?