The evolving face of truth!

BY DANIEL COLE

Today, with enough data to prove and scientific evidence available, we now believe the earth to be spherical. Interestingly, in the nineteenth century, during the Middle Ages, certain scholars believed that the earth was flat. Have you ever wondered why some books are written in revised editions? It’s simple; what was believed to be true a century or decade ago may no longer hold to be true based on current findings. In this age of information, one of the questions that confront us all is, are we still thinking or we are unconsciously outsourcing it? Because today, everyone seems to have answers to all questions, as long as they have internet connectivity and Google.

There is a term in psychology, it’s called metacognition; in a simple explanation, it means to think about thinking and to know about knowing. Have you ever asked why you hold certain ideals to be true? And what informed your view about those ideals? And how genuine and credible are the sources of what informs you.

For hundreds of years, the world has believed the Isaac Newton law of gravitational pull, before Albert Einstein proved him wrong. In fact, for almost three decades, I have always believed Charles Darwin postulated the evolution theory, well, I was wrong. Darwin popularized the theory of evolution by natural selection but the roots of the theory came from Greek philosophy. The idea dates back to centuries before Darwin. Three natural philosophers of the ancient world worked on the idea. They are Anaximander (c. 610 BC-c.546 BC), Empedocles (495 BC-435 BC) and Lucretius (99 BC-55 BC).

I have admiration for great philosophers and thinkers whose intellectual work has changed or aided the quality of our existence, from Pythagoras to Aristotle, from Cleisthenes to Plato and so many others. But the question we all should ask ourselves is, if Socrates in all his wit could still die by committing suicide, doesn’t that underpin the limit of philosophy and philosophical principles. What is my point? Truth, as far as it’s a product of human thinking is subject to evolve.

Facebook or Instagram would censor any content that campaigns about a cure for the ongoing pandemic, why? It is deemed as misinformation because it’s not coming from a verifiable source. But have we asked ourselves, who decides what we hold to be true and what are the metrics used in making those decisions, and how true or correct are those metrics?

Oftentimes in higher education, students are discouraged from using information from Wikipedia while conducting their research, why? Because it’s not seen as a genuine source of gathering data. Ask yourself, what informs the principles you live your life by? What version of truth have you lived by, and how is it influencing your decision-making process? Is there anything like ‘Absolute Truth?’ Without getting too philosophical, the point is, before you hold anything as a worldview, question it. To be inquisitive is a virtue of the intelligent. Do not follow people, beliefs or anything blindly. That it’s popular doesn’t mean it’s true.

In the words of Franz Kafka, “Don’t bend, don’t water it down; don’t try to make it logical; don’t edit your own soul according to the fashion. Rather, follow your most intense obsessions mercilessly.” To stand up for what you believe takes courage, especially when it’s unpopular and not generally acceptable. Czeslaw Milosz put it this way, “In a room where people unanimously maintain a conspiracy of silence, one word of truth sounds like a pistol shot.”

Take time out to critically think about what informed your view of life. This is an exercise I took a long time ago. What ‘truth’ have you held on to and what informed it? Do you blindly follow views, ideals, or opinions that seem to be popular, but not true?