Good Morning Jacob...

Letter to my Son
Sunday, 17 May

Jacob…

You've probably heard by now the theory that in a truly infinite universe there exists every possible variation of all things created – infinite variations of planet Earth, all possible combinations of historic events and all varieties of versions of you and me living every scenario of events during our life.  That’s one logical notion of infinite.

Of course, I have no awareness of any other variation of myself so I can’t really claim these people as me any more than Tom Taylor on Planet X can claim me on planet Earth as being him.  There are an infinite number of people claiming to be the genuine Tom Taylor and yet we are all the same while being different.  Now how does that work?  We each have our own separate consciousness so the only me is the one thinking precisely what this brain is concerned about right now.

I’m not losing sleep over this issue of identity.  It’s really no more than some philosophical mind game.  It’s like Descartes’ mental investigations in a way.  This guy, Rene, felt a personal freedom every time he said no to someone.  He figured that if there is any plausible reason that something isn’t true then he wasn’t going to believe it.  As it turns out the only thought he felt certain to be true was the fact of his own existence because he had consciousness.  You’ve heard it before - I think, therefore I am.  There is no certainty that anything else exists.  Your lover, your mother, the car you are riding in may actually have no existence.  We just decide on our own to go along and get along and be happy carrying out the ruse.  Even Descartes chose to be a lifelong practicing Catholic just in case his philosophy turned out to be off-base.  CYA.

This entire thought process seems irrelevant, having no bearing on what it is we face each day.  It doesn’t even seem beneficial.  Putting Cartesian Philosopher on your resume doesn’t help in landing a job.  And if you live your philosophy it is only a matter of time before you are placed in a mental ward for seventy-two hours of observation.  They rule you are not insane, just dysfunctional – a useless but harmless peg.

If I’m living in Bangladesh I feel blessed if I have a menial sixty hour a week job that pays next to nothing.  At least I eat and have a roof over my head.  Generally I can think any useless thoughts I want if I’m a citizen of the U.S. or Western Europe.  My society won’t let me starve.  It’s bad for moral.  I’m free to go where I want and do as I please so long as the opportunity doesn’t require money.  I can spend my days in the local library writing a blog discussing controversial issues such as how many angels really do fit on the head of a pin.   Here then is my chosen occupation.  Success in this career requires that I first imagine an impossible situation and then find the argument that reasonably describes what is unknowable.  If this doesn’t pan out my fallback position is to have a late night radio call-in program where we speculate who among us is not from this planet.

Love,

          Dad

© Tom Taylor    All Rights Reserved

What is Truth?

I think, therefore I am

“I was especially delighted with the mathematics, on account of the certitude and evidence of their reasonings; but I had not as yet a precise knowledge of their true use; and thinking that they but contributed to the advancement of the mechanical arts, I was astonished that foundations, so strong and solid, should have had no loftier superstructure reared on them.”

René Descartes

A Discourse on Method

Rectangle 

Area of Rectangle

A = area

b = length of base

h = height

A triangle of the same height and base length as the rectangle containing it will always take up half the area of the rectangle.  This formula will hold true no matter the shape of the triangle.  In the countless uses of this formula by humans on a human scale there has been no instance where this has proven not to be true.  Thus it can be said that no amount of empirical data has ever contradicted these formulas.  In science that would be a very high probability of truth.

Triangle

Area of Triangle

Truth is always subjective because the only truth I know is what it is I believe.  This holds true for you, as well.  Ultimately all truth is subjective because it is an inner belief.  You can make the same claim regarding mathematics.  I might say the formula for finding the area of a triangle is one half the base times the height and that this is an objective truth because I read it in a book and it is what is taught at school to kids everywhere.  It is a fact that no one has yet found to have a fault according to what I have been told.  What can be a more objective truth?  Still, I have to believe it for it to be true to me.  Maybe the formula to find the area of a triangle doesn’t make sense to me.  I don’t believe it.  Now the formula is no longer true in my mind.  The formula may, in fact, be true to most everyone else but it is false for me.  Truth is ultimately subjective.  Maybe I am right.  There is possibly a flaw in the formula that makes it true most all the time but not always.  It is possible that if the triangle were large enough that we would have to take into account the curvature of the earth then this simple formula would no longer be true.  If I believe the formula for finding the area of a triangle then I believe something that is objectively false.  But I believe it so it is subjectively true. 

Kierkegaard says that objective truth is an abstraction.  Basically he is saying that objective truth has no meaning unless someone believes something to be true.  He says, “Truth is subjective.”  Does that mean that if I believe the Area of a Triangle formula to be true then it must be objectively true?  Obviously no.  If the object, the formula, is objectively false then my believing it to be true does not make it true.  What is true is my belief that the formula is true.  The truth of the object, the formula, is irrelevant to my truth – my relationship to the object.  So what is true is not the object itself but my relationship to it.  This is Kierkegaard’s subjective truth.  In this regard objective truth is irrelevant to what one believes is true.

Certainly we cannot rely on anyone’s subjective truth to land a man on the moon but for truth to have any meaning, for mathematics to have any meaning, it must first become subjective truth - someone must believe it for it to exist.  This statement would be true for Kierkegaard but not for Descartes because Kierkegaard sees truth in purely human terms.

Bound to the Subjective

One draws a magic circle around oneself

To keep everything out that doesn't fit

One’s secret games

Each time life breaks through the circle,

The games become puny and ridiculous

So one draws a new circle

And builds new defenses

Ingmar Bergman

Through a Glass Darkly

I parted with Kierkegaard to find Descartes:

Cogito, ergo sum – I think, therefore I am

All is in doubt outside the strictest empirical knowledge

Yet, somehow, truth remains bound to the subjective

And the troubled realm of Kierkegaard.