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Uncompromising
intellectual honestly is the passionate commitment to understand the
scheme of things as it really is and to reject ANY belief we hold
if the weight of evidence says it is wrong.
“Far more crucial than what
we know or do not know is what we do not want to know. One often
obtains a clue to a person’s nature by discovering the reasons for his
or her imperviousness to certain impressions.
To most of us nothing is so invisible as
an unpleasant truth. Though it is held before our eyes, pushed under
our noses, rammed down our throats – we know it not.
The fact seems to be that we
are least open to precise knowledge concerning the things we are most
vehement about. The rabid radical remains in the dark concerning the
nature of radicalism, and the religious concerning the nature of
religion.
Vehemence is the expression
of a blind effort to support and uphold something that can never stand
on its own – something rootless, incoherent and incomplete. Whether it
is our own meaningless self we are upholding or some doctrine devoid of
evidence, we can do it only in a frenzy of faith.
The
weakness of a soul is proportionate to the number of truths that must be
kept from it.”
[Eric Hoffer, 1955, Pgs. 41-42]
So far the best
approach we have to an uncompromising intellectual honestly is the
scientific method. There has been much written about the scientific
method. Some of it is good. I leave it to you to study what scientists
do. Read about the scientific method. It is far better however to
learn some science and then do some science. You do not need to be a
professional scientist to do science. If you do not understand why this
is true then you have much to learn about science. Science means seeing
truth.
I will not repeat
anything about science or the scientific method that is so readily
available else where. Understand that there are a lot of bad books
about what science is. Being able to detect what is good and what is
bad is a skill you must develop. This skill is best learned with
experience.
I will give you one
small hint. The very best definition I have ever found of the
scientific method is, “It is a no holds barred assault on learning the
truth.” If you come across this quote let me know. I have forgotten who
said it.
Readings and
Exercises: I had planned to give no reference here, but rather to
make it an exercise to find some good books on science. However, as I
think of what is on the general public bookstore shelves in the science
section, I am concerned that the percentage of really good books is not
what I would like it to be if I were to just say go out and find
something that interests you. Therefore I will suggest you read Daniel
Boorstin (1983). “The Discoverers.” It is the preeminent historical
view of the scientific enterprise. It is also available on tape and
CD. I listened to it whiling driving. It is quite long.
Once you have read or
listened to Boorstin then go find something more specific that you find
interesting. Using Boorstin as a guide you are less likely to fall into
reading one of the many very bad popularizations of some minor and
unrepresentative example of science. Go for something solid and
mainstream. Mainstream implies not of a current fad. You will
recognize fads by their prominence in the media and there will be
several books on them. You are best served reading about the discovery
of solid well established science.
As you come to
understand how scientists approach understanding the world try it for
yourself. For the most part science is nothing more than a very
rigorous common sense approach carefully applied to understanding with
experimental verification of how the world works. The experimental part
is probably better described as predict something and then see if it is
true. Then find something that the theory says must not be true and see
if you can find an example of it being true.
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(C) 2005-2014 Wayne M. Angel.
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