Re: belief, faith, truth

From: Stathis Papaioannou <stathispapaioannou.domain.name.hidden>
Date: Fri, 03 Feb 2006 11:28:04 +1100

That's very good, Tom! It's the conclusion I arrived at a few years ago, and
I don't see why you describe it as an abandonning of truth. I think being
upset at this conclusion is like reaching for the nearest nailed-down object
when you first learn that the Earth is a sphere: if you didn't fall off
before learning this, why should you fall off after? In any case, we return
to the distinction between the utility of a belief and its truth value: if
an idea will have negative consequences for all who come to understand it,
you could argue that the idea should be kept secret, but you can't argue
that the idea is therefore false.

Stathis Papaioannou

>Tom wrote:
>>....what are we left with?
>
>To make my point more plain, I will give my own answer to this question.
>If we abandon a belief in truth, or if we totally separate truth from our
>lives, then what are we left with? We are left devoid of meaning in our
>lives. We would end up with something like, "I as a person, do not exist,
>for putting such a label as "person" on me would be persumptuous of having
>a corner on truth, and I don't believe in truth. Instead, I just aimlessly
>float, like an undefined point, from one observer-moment to the next, and
>randomly bounce off my surroundings. Since I don't have any beliefs that I
>hold onto for more than one observer-moment at a time (since I am not a
>person), then anything can change my mind. In fact, this implies (for I
>wouldn't dare assume it) that my mind doesn't not exist. There are only
>particulars. Therefore, why am I even thinking or talking? I am lost.
>But this doesn't matter because I don't exist as a person and so I have
>nothing to lose. I am not making sense."
>
>Tom

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Received on Thu Feb 02 2006 - 19:31:29 PST

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