Tuesday, January 3, 2012

On Truth and original thinking

I was reading the book - The fear of freedom, by Erich Fromm. The following excerpt on truth and its nature, and the way human relate to truth, was eye catching. As usual, Fromm forces the reader to contemplate into dimensions he has always ignored - 

"..Another closely related way of discouraging original thinking is to regard all truth as relative. Truth is made out to be a metaphysical concept, and if anyone speaks about wanting to discover the truth he is thought backward by the "progressive" thinkers of our age. Truth is declared to be an entirely subjective matter, almost a matter of taste.
Scientific endeavor must be detached from subject factors, and its aim is to look at world without passion and interest. The scientists has to approach facts with sterilized hands as a surgeon approaches his patient.
The result of this relativism, which often presents itself by the name of empiricism or positivism or which recommends itself by its concern for the correct usage of words, is that thinking loses its essential stimulus - the wishes and interests of the person who thins; instead it becomes a machine to register "facts". Actually, just as thinking in general has developed out of the need for mastery of material life, so the quest for truth is rooted in the interests and needs of individuals and social groups. Without such interest the stimulus of seeking the truth would be lacking.
There are always groups whose interest is furthered by truth, and their representatives have been the pioneers of human thought; there are other groups whose interests are furthered by concealing truth. Only in the latter case does interest prove harmful to the cause of truth. The problem, therefore, is not that there is an interest at stake, but what kind of interest is at stake. I might say that inasmuch as there is some longing for truth in every human being, it is because every human being has some need for it.
As a child, every human being passes through a state of powerlessness, and truth is one of the strongest weapons of those who have no power. But the truth is in the individual's interest not only with regard to his orientation to the outer world; his own strength depends to a great extent on his knowing the truth about himself. Illusions about oneself can  become crutches useful to those who are not able to walk alone; but they increase a person's weakness. The individual's greatest strength is based on the maximum of transparency to himself. "Know Thyself" is one of the fundamental commands that aim at human strength and happiness.
...with regard to all basic questions of individual and social life, with regard to psychological, economic, political, and moral problems, a great sector of our culture has just one function - to before the issues. One kind of smokescreen is the assertion that the problems are too complicated for the average individual to grasp. On the contrary, it would seem that many of the basic issues of individual and social life are very simple, so simple, in fact, that everyone should be expected to understand them. To let them appear to be so enormously complicated that only a "specialist" can understand them, and he only in hi sown limited field, actually - and often intentionally - tends to discourage people from trusting their own capacity to think about those problems that really matter. The individual feels helplessly caught in a chaotic mass of data and with pathetic patience waits until the specialists have found out what to do and where to go.
The result of this kind of influence is twofold: one is a skepticism and cynicism towards everything which is said or printed, while the other is a childish belief in anything that a person is told with authority. This combination of cynicism and naivete is very typical of the modern individual. Its essential result is to discourage him from doing his own thinking and deciding."

From the above passage this is what I synthesize -
1. Truth is absolute, and can be obtained not just be accumulation of facts, but rather synthesizing, analyzing, contemplating, and really "thinking". Having said that it does not go to under-estimate facts. Rather it emphasizes the need of complementing facts with original thinking of the student, the need of relating the facts with the experience, emotions and interests of the student. It is about simmering the thoughts and facts in the moments of deep contemplation.

2. Quest of truth is rooted in the interest of individuals and social groups. Without such interest the stimulus of seeking the truth would be lacking. One has to be aware of the nature of interest involved. Following are the nature of the interests involved -
i) There are always groups whose interest is furthered by truth, and their representative have been pioneers of human thought. For this group truth is the means, and the end to itself. It works like a exploration of an uncharted land. More a person explores, more he is filled with awe, and more he is motivated to explore. It is the truth which he finds, and that fuels his search for truth to the next level.
ii) There are other groups whose interests are furthered by concealing the truth, either in the name of faith, harmony, status-quo, solidarity, etc. This nature of interest forces a pseudo thinking and in-authentic act on the person involved.

3. Every human longs for truth. This gives him power. As a child, every human passes through a state of powerlessness, and truth is one of the strongest weapon of those who have no power. Truth is in the individual's interest not only with regard to his orientation in the outer world; his own strength depends to a great extent on his knowing the truth about himself. Illusions about oneself can become crutches useful to those who are not able to walk alone; but they increase person's weakness. For example an illusion on how a person relates his inner self with say God, or love or his inner model of reality, might give him comfort, but will make him weak, if he does not remove the illusions and bring out the light of truth. This action requires immense discipline, patience and courage. This act of lightening up of one's inner self, with truth, has been termed as varied as "self-realization", "enlightenment", "nirvana", etc. So aptly is the inscription at the entrance of the temple of Delphi of the ancient Greeks - "Know thyself".

4. There is a need to develop a critical thinking faculty. One has to go beyond naivete and skepticism. The root of this what Fromm says about smokescreening the otherwise easy truth in the name of over-specialization.

Creativity is a fallout of original thinking. At its core it is much more involved with the human nature, than is popularly even acknowledged by the masses.
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1 comment:

  1. Hi!

    I am agree with you about the original thinking. It will be nice to conceptualize it more precisely.

    ReplyDelete