Epistemic Courage

QUOTE

Stephen Hawking once said…

“The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge.”

(English theoretical physicist and cosmologist)

CONCEPT

Epistemic Courage

Epistemic courage is the willingness to face uncertainty, question accepted truths, and risk error in the pursuit of knowledge.

It’s not just about having information—it’s about daring to challenge assumptions, including your own. Where intellectual humility is the recognition that you might be wrong, epistemic courage is the resolve to act on that recognition, even when it’s uncomfortable or unpopular.

STORY

Self-Centered … or Centered Self?

In 1633, Galileo Galilei stood before the Roman Inquisition, sharing a new insight that went against the common knowledge: that the Earth moved around the Sun.

At the time, the geocentric model of the universe—Earth at the center—was Church doctrine. Galileo’s telescopic observations told another story. He had seen Jupiter’s moons orbiting their planet. He had mapped the phases of Venus. None of it made sense unless the planets, including Earth, were circling the Sun.

He published his findings, laying out irrefutable evidence for heliocentrism.

The reaction was swift and severe. The Inquisition charged him with heresy. He was interrogated, threatened with torture, and ultimately forced to recant. He spent the rest of his life under house arrest.

What Galileo embodied wasn’t just scientific brilliance. It was epistemic courage—the determination to follow evidence even when it contradicted the most powerful institutions of his time. He knew the risks. He tried to present his ideas diplomatically, framing them as “hypotheses.”

Still, he stood by his observations, even as they cost him his freedom.

Centuries later, the Church formally acknowledged Galileo was right. But his example has lived on much longer than his punishment. Scientists, thinkers, and reformers cite him as a reminder that progress depends not only on asking questions, but on the courage to bear the consequences of their answers.

Epistemic courage is the resolve to say, “I might be wrong—but so might the world.”