Blind Certainty
Summary:
“Certainty can be defined as either (a) perfect knowledge that has total security from error, or (b) the mental state of being without doubt. Objectively defined, certainty is total continuity and validity of all foundational inquiry, to the highest degree of precision. Something is certain only if no skepticism can occur. Philosophy (at least historical Cartesian philosophy) seeks this state.[citation needed]
It is widely held that certainty about the real world is a failed historical enterprise (that is, beyond deductive truths, tautology, etc.). This is in large part due to the power of David Hume's Problem of induction. Physicist Carlo Rovelli adds that certainty, in real life, is useless or often damaging (the idea is that "total security from error" is impossible in practice, and a complete "lack of doubt" is undesirable).”
“Certainty” Wikipedia. April 2011. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Certainty>
Interest:
I am interested in trying to see from the viewpoint of others. I have my set of beliefs and have constructed how I view the world around me from my experiences and what I have chosen to observe. I would like to challenge myself more in trying to understand people and ideas that I object to. I feel that if I only continue to grow into my belief sets then I may be missing out on things in life that I have closed my mind to since I feel it is wrong or irrelevant to myself. By taking a less self-centered viewpoint I hope to expand my work or at least better inform my work. One place I may start looking is Christianity since I have never been a Christian to better understand one of the most popular religions in the world.
Quotes:
“A huge percentage of the stuff that I tend to be automatically certain of is, it turns out, totally wrong and deluded. Here's one example of the utter wrongness of something I tend to be automatically sure of: Everything in my own immediate experience supports my deep belief that I am the absolute center of the universe, the realest, most vivid and important person in existence. We rarely talk about this sort of natural, basic self-centeredness, because it's so socially repulsive, but it's pretty much the same for all of us, deep down. It is our default-setting, hard-wired into our boards at birth. Think about it: There is no experience you've had that you were not at the absolute center of. The world as you experience it is right there in front of you, or behind you, to the left or right of you, on your TV, or your monitor, or whatever. Other people's thoughts and feelings have to be communicated to you somehow, but your own are so immediate, urgent, real -- you get the idea. But please don't worry that I'm getting ready to preach to you about compassion or other-directedness or the so-called "virtues." This is not a matter of virtue -- it's a matter of my choosing to do the work of somehow altering or getting free of my natural, hard-wired default-setting, which is to be deeply and literally self-centered, and to see and interpret everything through this lens of self.”
Wallace, David Foster “David Foster Wallace on Life and Work” September 2008. April 2011.
"It did what all ads are supposed to do: create an anxiety relievable by purchase."
Wallace, David Foster “David Foster Wallace” GoodReads. April 2011.
“Dawkins works on the assumption that his readers know very little about Christianity. He asserts that if you believe in evolution then you cannot believe in God, because evolution is by definition atheistic. But that is a very inaccurate interpretation. Dawkins also interprets a Christian's 'faith' as 'blind trust'. To him 'faith' means running away from evidence. But that's not a Christian definition of faith‚ People like simple answers to hard questions. That's why Dawkins is so popular.”
“ Oxford theology professor punctures Dawkins' blind certainty” Ekklesia. April 2011.
“Hume's view is that the experience of constant conjunction fosters a “habit of the mind” that leads us to anticipate the conclusion on the occasion of a new instance of the second premise. The force of induction, the force that drives the inference, is thus not an objective feature of the world, but a subjective power; the mind's capacity to form inductive habits. The objectivity of causality, the objective support of inductive inference, is thus an illusion, an instance of what Hume calls the mind's “great propensity to spread itself on external objects”
“The Problem of Induction” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. June 2010. April 2011.
“I suppose the highest level of trust, if you can achieve it, is blind faith. This type of trust scares me, frankly. It is the stuff of fanatical and thoughtless religion, whether it be at a U.S. church in Florida or a mosque in Afghanistan. I suppose if I wanted to lead a cult, either religious or marketing-wise, I would like my potential clients to have blind faith in my abilities.”
“Trust vs. blind faith in construction marketing” Construction Marking Ideas. April 2011.
Further Reading:
Image/Video:
Posts
Post a Comment