A “mystic” is someone who believes in “rigorous intuition”. As in, “I feel like theory A is true” is sufficient evidence to put resources into proving theory A.
This is categorically different from a “rationalist” approach of feeling → logical evidence → persuasion. They go feeling → persuasion directly.
This creates an epistemic “bug” for mystics: you can just show up in their community and start saying “I feel so & so” strategically on things you know to be false and no one can call you out, because it’s your feelings.
Homework question: How do communities of mystics (like tpot) guard against this? Do they have any defenses? Are they even aware of this blindspot?
Homework question 2: What would be the equivalent “epistemic attack” in the normal process of science?