How do we know if we don't know?

MAN SHAVING HIMSELF

To really write properly on this subject, I should have read all five articles, but I only read the first in this series linked by Grim at Grim’s Hall. It’s about scientists who are studying the mystery, not only of not knowing, but of not knowing that we don’t know certain things. In other words, problems we don’t solve because we’re not aware of any problem—even when we have to live with the consequences of not solving it.

DAVID DUNNING:  Well, my specialty is decision-making.  How well do people make the decisions they have to make in life?  And I became very interested in judgments about the self, simply because, well, people tend to say things, whether it be in everyday life or in the lab, that just couldn’t possibly be true.  And I became fascinated with that.  Not just that people said these positive things about themselves, but they really, really believed them.  Which led to my observation: if you’re incompetent, you can’t know you’re incompetent.



At the end, the authors talk about anosognosia, a condition of brain damage where people with paralyses adjust their perceptions to tune out things they can’t deal with. For instance, a guy who can’t shave one side of his face, looks in the mirror and only sees the side he can shave. He walks around half-shaved, because the side he can’t reach has ceased to exist for him.

I read, years back, of a doctor who was visited by a woman who was dragging one leg. She was completely paralyzed on one side of her body. But she came to him to ask for headache relief. She wasn’t aware of the paralysis at all. The doctor said, “The brain is the organ that tells us if something’s wrong. But if the brain stops operating correctly, what’s to tell us something’s wrong with the brain?”

It’s hard to understand these things, but they do exist, and I think they exist in the spiritual realm as well. When Jesus said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear,” he was addressing the truth that some people are aware of their spiritual need, and others aren’t. The latter are “the healthy, who do not need a physician” (Christ was speaking ironically, of course). And when you try to persuade someone that he needs a Savior, he often won’t know what you’re talking about. The ability to recognize our spiritual need, according to Christian theology, is a gift of the Holy Spirit. And that brings us to the whole question of grace and free will and predestination.

But I’m not aware of a need to discuss that right now.

9 thoughts on “How do we know if we don't know?”

  1. That’s fascinating, but if you believe you are incompetent, can’t you know the truth of that by properly evaluating your skills or results with those who are competent? If I can’t spell well, I can know that by the words I type.

  2. Very interesting article. It calls to mind the Reformed doctrine of the necessity of scripture.

  3. Phil, ordinarily the results do tell us we’re incompetent. But for certain people, in certain situations, it doesn’t seem to work that way. That’s what this is about.

  4. I just had a brain-spark. I can also relate this to Christ’s words, “The eye is the lamp of the body. If the eye is good, the whole body is filled with light. But if the eye is darkness, how great is that darkness.”

    He’s talking about perception being awry, about the proper organs not doing their work. If you think you see, but are only seeing what you think you ought to see, you’re deeply deluded and headed for a cliff.

  5. Even more–He says, “If the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!” I think He’s saying that it’s one thing to be blind and know it. You’re handicapped, but you can learn to survive. But to be blind and not know it is certain death.

  6. There’s a negative correlation between competence and self-perception of same. People who think they’re great tend to suck, and not know they need to improve. People who think they suck tend to work hard at improving themselves. Unfortunately, other research (Learned Optimism, available on Amazon) shows that sometimes self-delusion is good for us. Depressed people tend to be more realistic in their evaluation, but less effective in getting things done.

    I’m not sure how to apply this to theology.

  7. Or, as my son used to say when he was a teen, “I am not afraid that I’m not living up to my full potential. I’m afraid that I AM living up to my full potential, and this is a good as it gets.”

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