From: Lee Corbin (lcorbin@tsoft.com)
Date: Thu Dec 12 2002 - 20:01:29 MST
Jeff Davis writes
> Extropes,
>
> The following demonstrates why it is so difficult to
> have a rational discussion of these sorts of things on
> this, or for that matter any, list.
So far as I have ever been able to tell, "rational"
is to you an adjective describing people who subscribe
to your political ideology or who accede at once to
the truth as you present it. Those who cannot see this
truth, well, you have other words for them. People who
present inaccurate renditions of events are told to "shut
the fuck up". It would be libelous of all leftists to
suppose that this is their general behavior---but
sometimes I have to wonder if there isn't a slight
correlation.
> The underlying knowledge base--the supposed truths about
> the world--are completely different from one person to
> another.
Yes, insofar as ideological "truths", e.g., whether the
U.S. invaded Vietnam or was invited into south Vietnam.
> To me this means that one person's truth is corrupted, i.e. it
> is not truth at all, while another's is the real thing.
You knew that that wasn't right as you were writing it.
First, both parties may turn out to be deeply in error,
and second, good epistemology dictates that we always
hold the truth as conjectural, not *certain*.
Another person's *may* be the real thing, but only provisionally.
> (To be a bit more generous, I might say everyone has some
> degree of error in their set of facts.) Adding to the
> problem--perhaps the decisive element--is the pre-programmed
> resistance to modifying one's belief set, the human tendency to
> refuse the truth in favor of what they already believe.
Exactly so.
> Ron h absorbed his world view in the era of McCarthyism, and
> never looked back.
and you have systematically deposited layer after layer
of filtered beliefs yourself decade after decade. I do
understand and appreciate that you have changed your
mind on some things over the years, but it would be
pretty amazing if a deep psychological study revealed
you to be more open to unwelcome revelation than other
members of this list.
Lee
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