___________________________________________ PERSONAL NOTES World View: My world view is essentially secular and humanistic, strongly influenced by scientific methodology as best as that can be applied to any area. I know that human morality and responsibilty and respect for the dignity of others, both in public or private life, are absolutely necessary for any society of humans to be successful in the long run. I also know that these qualities are best supported by honesty and the courage of open-minded inquiry as to what reality or truth really is. This is a never-ending quest, and there are no shortcuts. We learn morality and responsibility and respect and mental courage from our experiences of encouragement and opportunity in life. Despite the claims of so many religions, these values do not depend in any essential way upon spiritualistic nor religious nor political belief or faith. In fact, such "beliefs" (shortcuts, actually) are two-edged swords that have caused far more organized horror in human history than they may have prevented. This is true especially when the "belief" is associated with a sense of certainty, or with a desperate need to escape anxiety: for such combinations produce closed-mindedness and mental rigidities. These eventually lead far too many people to deny the essential humanity of all those others who are not within their own particular mental and emotional cell-block. There is confirmation of this all around us, in every history book, and in every world news report. But there are questions in human life about which we do not have reasonably sure knowledge of the truth. What of them? When I was a college student, I often wandered through the stacks of Butler Library (Columbia), and one day I happened across a very difficult book with the title, The Philosophy of "As If" ( Vaihinger ). I borrowed it and struggled through bits of it (translated from German). What has stuck with me for over half a century is a simple concept (as I understood it) that made a lot of sense to me then and now. In my own version of it: human knowledge is never complete nor exact nor completely true. Every concept is, in part, a fiction. It is less fictional when it is supported by a body of scientific proof; it is more fictional when it is not based upon such a validation. Nevertheless, we all have to act, to make decisions, to move within the world. We must do so by using some conception of that world "as if" our conception were solid reality, "as if" the relevant question had such-and-such an answer even when an answer is unknowable. Therefore, we can't help but accept various fictions or myths as the working hypotheses in our lives and choices .... perhaps such ideas as the existence or non-existence of God, life after death, democracy, the finite universe, need for a career, the goodness of humankind, the evil of humankind, the superiority of the French (or not), and so forth. However, in order to maintain our own intellectual and moral honesty, we must also be very much aware of the fact that, despite our acceptance of a concept, it is still a fiction. It is tentative at best and never the last word in truly defining reality. Our acceptance of it is for the practical purposes of life. Likewise, we must be modest enough to be aware that human knowledge, as it slowly grows, may supplant our "as if" conception with something more close to a truth, and we have to be willing and anxious to accept the change when this happens. Unfortunately, resistance to such conceptual changes is common. Most importantly to humanity as a whole, we also must be respectful enough not to force upon others ( including those of our own group) our personal "as if" choices as though these were unassailable and unquestionable truths; for from this attitude come the horrors of "belief" combined with implacable certainty. Our responsibilities to humankind include a duty to offer to the young those experiences and opportunities that encourage in them a willingness to search for truth without fear ....to be consciously tentative without guilt ....to be able to act even without 100% certainty ....and to weigh evidence with objectivity. At least, that's how it has looked to me for the last few decades. Bill Taber Essays For Library Trustees & Others Brief Biography & Career Line Personal Notes - World View Personal Notes - Travel: USA Personal Notes - Recent Personal Notes - Local Travel: New York State Personal Notes - Past: Interests Personal Notes - Moments HOME Map of this website |
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