Epistemological Anarchy and Existential Panic

Abstract

This paper addresses the post-truth crises facing society in general and education in particular. Rather than one dominant meaning framework (religious, ideological, etc.) there are multiple, competing frameworks. Both philosophical and folk epistemologies are valued because they bind anxiety by offering trustworthy ground. However, multiple epistemologies (both academic and folk) are emerging—many of which critique and offer alternatives to Western-centric, patriarchal, traditional epistemologies. However, when frameworks are relativized, that capacity to bind anxiety is lost, and nihilism begins to haunt our thoughts. Are we moving through a liminal zone where traditional meaning frameworks have lost their purchase? The responsibility for creating new frameworks will first be generated individually. Then, if effective, they will gradually be adopted by others, and a collective will begin to form. Toward that end, I describe a practice that orients a person to a sensorimotor way of interacting with one’s circumstances pragmatically rather than ideologically.