The Paradox of Epistemic Accumulation When Plausible Ideas Accumulate into Implausible Theories by Wayne Martin Mellinger, Ph.D.
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The Paradox of Epistemic Accumulation When Plausible Ideas Accumulate into Implausible Theories Wayne Martin Mellinger, Ph.D. The discussion of Richard Tarnas, Stanislav Grof, Keiron Le Grice, and archetypal astrology reveals a broader theoretical problem closely parallel to the P aradox of Rational Accumulation . Individually reasonable intellectual propositions can be assembled into theoretical systems whose cumulative conclusions are substantially less warranted than any of their constituent propositions. The problem is not necessarily that any particular thinker, concept, or body of research is worthless. The problem arises in the inferential relations created as otherwise plausible ideas are accumulated. This can be called the Paradox of Epistemic Accumulation : The accumulation of individually plausible propositions does not necessarily produce an increasingly plausible theoretical system. Under some conditions, each additional proposition introduces new inferential relatio...
