Note: This is the third and final essay in my quasi-epistemological analysis of Truth. The first and second parts are also available. Additionally, this is the last planned daily essay on this website. Additional content can be found at my website. Thank you for reading.
So when it comes to what Truth is, in part because of Assertion One, I feel that it's crucial to gain as much knowledge as we possibly can. Of course, there are different levels of worth in what can be stored in the human brain: Trivia, while true, may not be the most important use of time and effort. While I don't see anything wrong with knowing that Spider-Man first appeared in 1962--and its verifiable, unalloyed factual essence makes it a part of Truth--I don't think it's necessarily of the same value in terms of seeking after Truth.
And this is part of what I think gets a little muddied in terms of what we ought to know: The Truth is that the Truth is hard and sometimes it's filled with the sadness and the sour dregs of humanity's horrendous history. The Holocaust being part of Truth because of its reality doesn't beautify Truth or enhance the positive expressions of our humanity. But I don't think Truth is beauty anyway, as there is too much ugly and harsh that is true and, therefore, part of Truth.
But how is this an argument for a duty, an obligation? Well, I believe that because Truth is there, it's up to each person to gather as much as she or he can and process those pieces, always striving to incorporate more and more. Because of the vast variety of where Truth can be found, it's necessary to read, watch, and absorb as broadly as possible. Therefore, listening to the whispers coming out of the dust is not just about past peoples, as is asserted in the Book of Mormon, but also in the vast past that anthropology and paleontology can uncover. We ought to be looking at the stars to understand them as fully as we can while looking as deeply into our world as our intelligence and intuition and industry can take us. We cannot be complacent about anything that we've learned, marking a line and saying, "That's all there is. I will learn no more." That sort of attitude is poison and demotes the curiosity and splendor of the human mind as surely as toxins can poison the human machine.
This blog has been a place where I can assay such essays, where I can explore the greater pieces of Truth as they come toward me, be they in whatever form or format as they may.
I hope that you, as a reader, can see the areas at the fringes of the biome of your knowledge and see what kind of living can happen at the edge of your own intelligence, your own understanding, then venture even farther. All things, I believe, can be circumscribed into a massive Whole, and it is on us to find out the dimensions and diameters of that Truth.
This is the result of my ruminations: I believe we have to constantly seek in order to be able to say what is Truth.
Third Assumption
We have a duty to learn as much Truth as possible. The meaning "obligation or duty" is tucked into the Greek word deon- and is usually known through the Kantian system of ethics known as deontology. And though I'm familiar with his work, I can't boast to have read all his works. So if he's on the same wavelength as me on this aspect of the application of his moral philosophy I don't know. Nevertheless, I think it can be rationally asserted that it is incumbent on every human being to learn more about the world. It satisfies the categorical imperative in his maxim "Act only on that maxim through which you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law [of nature]" (CSUS), but also holds with the idea that we insist people remain ends in and of themselves, not merely means. It is essential to the continued survival of society, which is also within a deontological purview. And, since I try to be a practicing Kantian, it makes sense that I would view learning the Truth as being an ethical duty.
Indeed, that's the thing that I find compelling about expanding my own beliefs and understandings in this world. Compelling in two ways, actually: Intellectually stimulating, but also a duty built upon the fact that I'm within the world, interact with it, and change it by virtue of my existence.
While there's likely plenty of room for debate on the concept of genuine obligation, I'm not interested in pursuing that aspect of the conversation. For me, it's both self-evident and selfishly-evident that learning is a necessary component to improve myself and the world about me, and, as someone who benefits from both being an individual and a portion of society, I am under certain requirements and obligations. One of those duties, I maintain, is to learn as much as I can.
There are scriptural precedents that add to my argument. Some are biblical ("The truth will set you free", John 8:32) and some are Mormonical ("Seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom", Doctrine and Covenants 109:7), but regardless of their location, I believe these religious mandates only harmonize and inform the ethical/rational obligations. And though I recognize that there isn't the same authority in his written words as religious canon, Shakespeare's secular scripture puts it really well (and mirrors the religious invocation, too):
To fust means to rot or go moldy, and the "he" in the first quoted line means God. I completely agree with Hamlet (which is not always a guarantee, no matter what you might think): God giving us the ability to think only so that we can let it grow moldy from misuse doesn't, well, make any sense. The power of thought--the power of questions--is too strong a power to ignore. It's modeled even by a Supreme Being who already knows everything (see Genesis 3:9) and by Jesus who is the physical manifestation of that same omnipotence (see John 8:10). Asking questions is encouraged in James 3:5 and the way in which missionaries utilize Moroni 10: 3-5 when teaching investigators of the truth of the gospel message. In other words, seeking out additional knowledge is replete in the scriptures and fits in with a logical progression of thought.Sure, he that made us with such large discourse,Looking before and after, gave us notThat capability and god-like reasonTo fust in us unused. (Hamlet 4.4)
So when it comes to what Truth is, in part because of Assertion One, I feel that it's crucial to gain as much knowledge as we possibly can. Of course, there are different levels of worth in what can be stored in the human brain: Trivia, while true, may not be the most important use of time and effort. While I don't see anything wrong with knowing that Spider-Man first appeared in 1962--and its verifiable, unalloyed factual essence makes it a part of Truth--I don't think it's necessarily of the same value in terms of seeking after Truth.
And this is part of what I think gets a little muddied in terms of what we ought to know: The Truth is that the Truth is hard and sometimes it's filled with the sadness and the sour dregs of humanity's horrendous history. The Holocaust being part of Truth because of its reality doesn't beautify Truth or enhance the positive expressions of our humanity. But I don't think Truth is beauty anyway, as there is too much ugly and harsh that is true and, therefore, part of Truth.
But how is this an argument for a duty, an obligation? Well, I believe that because Truth is there, it's up to each person to gather as much as she or he can and process those pieces, always striving to incorporate more and more. Because of the vast variety of where Truth can be found, it's necessary to read, watch, and absorb as broadly as possible. Therefore, listening to the whispers coming out of the dust is not just about past peoples, as is asserted in the Book of Mormon, but also in the vast past that anthropology and paleontology can uncover. We ought to be looking at the stars to understand them as fully as we can while looking as deeply into our world as our intelligence and intuition and industry can take us. We cannot be complacent about anything that we've learned, marking a line and saying, "That's all there is. I will learn no more." That sort of attitude is poison and demotes the curiosity and splendor of the human mind as surely as toxins can poison the human machine.
This blog has been a place where I can assay such essays, where I can explore the greater pieces of Truth as they come toward me, be they in whatever form or format as they may.
I hope that you, as a reader, can see the areas at the fringes of the biome of your knowledge and see what kind of living can happen at the edge of your own intelligence, your own understanding, then venture even farther. All things, I believe, can be circumscribed into a massive Whole, and it is on us to find out the dimensions and diameters of that Truth.
This is the result of my ruminations: I believe we have to constantly seek in order to be able to say what is Truth.