Betraying The Rules Of Truth & Reason

 

Many dodgy belief systems are based on accepting propositions that are so obviously not true or factual, it really is remarkable to me how and why people assent to such beliefs. What I find most remarkable (and disturbing) is how so many people who believe these things appear to have zero chance of budging from their folly, or exhibiting even a flicker of curiosity towards the opposing (and truthful) propositions. It's one of the strangest things about human beings, but many have become inured to it by its ability to become so commonplace.

The main reason it's so utterly strange is because it wantonly betrays what I call the rules of truth and reason - the rules that most humans ordinarily act as though they value most of the time. You have to think of the rules of truth and reason as being a bit like a language game to which we all know the rules. The reason the world of beliefs has become so muddied is quite a bit to do with the fact that most humans are not willing to pay the full costs of truthseeking, but perhaps even more to do with the fact that language has been so readily transposed and distorted. 

Think of the rules of truth and reason as being a bit like a game of snooker. The rules of snooker include procedures about how and when you should take your shots - like potting a red and then a colour, like how each colour is worth a different number of points, like how only one player can be playing at the table on any given shot, and so forth. If you depart from these rules, then you are no longer playing snooker. If you play by those rules, but cheat when your opponent isn't looking, you are no longer playing a fair game.

The same applies to the rules of truth and reason - they are fairly well fixed in a way that makes language meaningful, in a way that makes arguments logical, and in a way that makes the rational and the empirical essential tools for discovery - but they are only the explicit ones. There are implicit rules that are more like obligations - like the obligation to be open to learning from more informed sources, like the obligation to consent to rational persuasion, like the obligation to change your mind when the counter-arguments are compelling, and like the obligation to embrace facts and truths over convenient and expedient falsehoods. These are duties and responsibilities that have been widely compromised by the many who attempt to create the illusion that they are playing by the same language game, but are really not.