Truth Cramps the Mind
My colleague Tracy Thayne has a blog called "My True Words." I recently posted comments on the concept of "True." I did it anonymously because I want to see if he recognizes who published it.
Truth Cramps the Mind
Ultimately, the similar concepts of "truth" and "true" form a distraction from real understanding. The idea that something is "true" locks our minds from considering new information.
Newtonian physics was considered "true" for hundreds of years. Einstein's Relativity, which modified and expanded our understanding of Newtonian theory, met staunch resistance from the scientific community in part due to necessary scientific skepticism, but also in part because scientific minds, hardened by truth, would not accept the new theory. Progress was slowed due to a dogmatic adherence to truth.
On the extreme, Theistic worldviews persist without evidence of a supreme being because "it is written" as Truth.
The idea of "true" ends up functioning as a mental handicap, preventing people from rationally questioning the world's most popular superstition.
Scientific knowledge, or understanding, is predicated on evidence and counter-evidence. Evidence does not really lead to truth, despite that we are typically taught in school that what science has revealed to us is in fact "true." Science aggregates evidence to come up with understanding. However, any real scientific understanding is never proven as so "true" that it cannot be modified or, on rare occasions, even overturned.
When we take things as our best understanding, our minds are free to accept new ideas and evidence. This forms the difference between religious obstinacy and a healthy adaptable worldview.
Truth Cramps the Mind
Ultimately, the similar concepts of "truth" and "true" form a distraction from real understanding. The idea that something is "true" locks our minds from considering new information.
Newtonian physics was considered "true" for hundreds of years. Einstein's Relativity, which modified and expanded our understanding of Newtonian theory, met staunch resistance from the scientific community in part due to necessary scientific skepticism, but also in part because scientific minds, hardened by truth, would not accept the new theory. Progress was slowed due to a dogmatic adherence to truth.
On the extreme, Theistic worldviews persist without evidence of a supreme being because "it is written" as Truth.
The idea of "true" ends up functioning as a mental handicap, preventing people from rationally questioning the world's most popular superstition.
Scientific knowledge, or understanding, is predicated on evidence and counter-evidence. Evidence does not really lead to truth, despite that we are typically taught in school that what science has revealed to us is in fact "true." Science aggregates evidence to come up with understanding. However, any real scientific understanding is never proven as so "true" that it cannot be modified or, on rare occasions, even overturned.
When we take things as our best understanding, our minds are free to accept new ideas and evidence. This forms the difference between religious obstinacy and a healthy adaptable worldview.
posted by Rev at 12:34 PM
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