link to original reddit post by /u/Luke-__-
The first of these being that there really is no fundamental “truth” that exists. Humans are the pinnacle of intelligent life on earth, but it doesn’t mean we actually know what’s going on. Even the most rigorously educated and intelligent people, who’ve spent their lives studying a niche subject that may make up a fraction of a percentage of the total of human knowledge, have a firm grasp that the more they find out about a subject, the less they feel they truly understand about it. The human mind is limited in memory, processing power, and information as new phenomena of the universe are discovered daily. The fact is, we know very little about life and reality. There’s no way someone individually can make decisions that represent themselves, much less everyone with complete certainty. We do our best to make choices, but it’s never perfect, nor can it be.
The second, that humans are excellent at convincing themselves that this first point isn’t true, at least in practice. Being indecisive can be negative, and it helps no one, including the individual to always be crippled by the inability to choose. Assuredness of choice however is easily amplified as every time you perceive a previous choice to have been a good one, your confidence in your next one grows. It can lead to an exaggeration of self perceived knowledge and understanding. This, I believe is the crucifix of politics, and why I am libertarian.
Classical liberalism is the only political philosophy that says, “I don’t know and neither do you.” It attempts to prevent choices being made by a centralized intelligence like the government, and promotes a collective intelligence that is the billions of individual minds evolving together. This is the fundamental property of individual liberty. The ability to say, I may be wrong, and so I’m going to let you make your own choices. That what’s right for me may not be right for you, so I won’t stop you. I don’t fully understand your life experiences, knowledge base, or perspectives, so won’t mandate you live to mine. That as long as you don’t demand others think like you, you are free to think and live however you choose.
The man who thinks he knows, knows not. The man who knows he doesn’t know, knows.
-twist on an Arabic proverb