You may have heard of Financial Peace University — they’ve helped thousands of people get out of debt and plan their financial lives, and my wife and I learned a lot from them early in our marriage. They teach something called the Debt Snowball. It works like this:
I might disagree with this. Money is a finite resource, especially for those in debt, whereas truth is abundant. Many of the people who've gotten out of epistemic debt did so through a sort of epistemic bankruptcy.
In bankruptcy, all debts were forgiven at once, with one painful acknowledgement. Epistemic bankruptcy could take the form of a dark night of the soul, admitting powerlessness to an addiction, or a sudden conversion.
Perhaps the most famous epistemic bankruptcy would be the Apostle Paul literally having the scales fall from his eyes and switching from persecuting Christians to writing half the New Testament. Seems to me sudden reversals are actually *easier* and more common than paying off small debts.
I might disagree with this. Money is a finite resource, especially for those in debt, whereas truth is abundant. Many of the people who've gotten out of epistemic debt did so through a sort of epistemic bankruptcy.
In bankruptcy, all debts were forgiven at once, with one painful acknowledgement. Epistemic bankruptcy could take the form of a dark night of the soul, admitting powerlessness to an addiction, or a sudden conversion.
Perhaps the most famous epistemic bankruptcy would be the Apostle Paul literally having the scales fall from his eyes and switching from persecuting Christians to writing half the New Testament. Seems to me sudden reversals are actually *easier* and more common than paying off small debts.