Holistic Truths Flashcards
The way to truth is not to look for an impossible neutral view that takes us outside any given network of beliefs. It is to expand the web as much as we can, weaving as many true threads as possible. When our coherent network of beliefs grows larger and is built on facts, each truth in it becomes stronger while every falsehood finds it harder to keep its place.
Science is a good example of a network of beliefs because it shows how truth-seeking is a collective enterprise.
Changing minds is hard precisely because changing our view of one important thing often requires us to challenge a whole load of other cherished opinions too. We may not be giving up only one belief but a whole way of seeing the world, a set of values, even often a network of friends. Beliefs are threads that if picked at can unravel the entire fabric that the help keep together. Challenge someone’s truth and you may be challenging their whole world.
It is difficult to get to the bottom line of truth because there is no such bottom line, only key threads that hold our beliefs together.
Truths do not stand or fall independently but are held in a network with other truths, all of which mutually support each other. We arrive at truth holistically.
