{"id":953,"date":"2015-04-30T23:12:48","date_gmt":"2015-04-30T23:12:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.therealgeobooth.com\/?p=953"},"modified":"2015-04-30T23:12:48","modified_gmt":"2015-04-30T23:12:48","slug":"subjective-and-objective-dont-think-of-an-elephant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.therealgeobooth.com\/?p=953","title":{"rendered":"Subjective and Objective — Don’t Think of An Elephant"},"content":{"rendered":"

“Yeah, well, y’know that’s just, like, your opinion, man.”<\/span>
\n -The Big Lebowski<\/span><\/h4>\n

We have entered a period in our history where we have elevated what our senses can perceive as facts, while we relegate abstract principles to the realm of opinions. \u00a0This is not healthy.<\/p>\n

\"Processed<\/a>

I can see clearly now.<\/p><\/div>\n

No sane man would question the sensory data that demonstrate the existence of water, trees, birds, fire, or anything tangible, or of the ways we speak of their dimensions. Height, depth, heat, cold, wetness — no one has a problem with these ideas or the substance they describe.<\/p>\n

At the same time, however, we are losing our ability to consider the objective reality of concepts — of things — such as truth, beauty, justice, love, honor, right and wrong. Some of this linguistic debasement is intentional. Destroy the vocabulary for moral reasoning and you establish the frame for the debate, if there can even be one.<\/p>\n

Let’s pay a visit to the poetry corner and talk a bit about the limits of stunting debate:<\/p>\n

\n

The Blind Men and the Elephant
\nby John Godfrey Saxe<\/b>\u00a0(1816-1887)<\/h3>\n
It was six men of Indostan
\nTo learning much inclined,
\nWho went to see the Elephant
\n(Though all of them were blind),
\nThat each by observation
\nMight satisfy his mind.<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
<\/div>\n
\n
The\u00a0First<\/i>\u00a0approached the Elephant,
\nAnd happening to fall
\nAgainst his broad and sturdy side,
\nAt once began to bawl:
\n“God bless me! but the Elephant
\nIs very like a WALL!”<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
<\/div>\n
\n
The\u00a0Second<\/i>, feeling of the tusk,
\nCried, “Ho, what have we here,
\nSo very round and smooth and sharp?
\nTo me ’tis mighty clear
\nThis wonder of an Elephant
\nIs very like a SPEAR!”<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
<\/div>\n
\n
The\u00a0Third<\/i>\u00a0approached the animal,
\nAnd happening to take
\nThe squirming trunk within his hands,
\nThus boldly up and spake:
\n“I see,” quoth he, “the Elephant
\nIs very like a SNAKE!”<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
<\/div>\n
\n
The\u00a0Fourth<\/i>\u00a0reached out an eager hand,
\nAnd felt about the knee
\n“What most this wondrous beast is like
\nIs mighty plain,” quoth he:
\n“‘Tis clear enough the Elephant
\nIs very like a TREE!”<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
<\/div>\n
\n
The\u00a0Fifth<\/i>, who chanced to touch the ear,
\nSaid: “E’en the blindest man
\nCan tell what this resembles most;
\nDeny the fact who can,
\nThis marvel of an Elephant
\nIs very like a FAN!”<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
<\/div>\n
\n
The\u00a0Sixth<\/i>\u00a0no sooner had begun
\nAbout the beast to grope,
\nThan seizing on the swinging tail
\nThat fell within his scope,
\n“I see,” quoth he, “the Elephant
\nIs very like a ROPE!”<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
<\/div>\n
\n
And so these men of Indostan
\nDisputed loud and long,
\nEach in his own opinion
\nExceeding stiff and strong,
\nThough each was partly in the right,
\nAnd all were in the wrong!<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Although I have seen others use this poem to illustrate the folly of moral certitude, I am not certain it makes that point at all. Some friends of mine with a materialist worldview argue that no human being can possibly know anything — that like the six blind men encountering the elephant, we are only capable of grasping a part of what we think we know.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
I agree that humility is a virtue, and that a man should admit to himself and others that he can be wrong and or that his knowledge may be incomplete. \u00a0However, note that although each blind man asserted something that was true about elephants based on his experience, his limited knowledge didn’t diminish\u00a0the objective reality of the entire elephant. Each man\u00a0may have been mistaken in part, but none was in doubt that he was arguing about the nature of an elephant.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
If this isn’t clear, let me explain it this way: A man who doubts the existence of trains can still be killed by one if he lies down on the tracks.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
While a man should be humble enough to recognize he may not have the whole picture, he should not use that as an excuse to avoid acquiring more knowledge or broadening his perspective. He should also avoid the error of parochialism — adopting the narrow interest of his immediate circle while ignoring the larger context. Read, study, argue, debate and test your theories against known facts. Try on the other guy’s point of view to see if you’re missing anything. The best ones will emerge victorious and the weak ones will die — but do you really want ideas or values that can’t stand up to inquiry?<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

<\/h4>\n

So how about you? How are you striving to cultivate your moral sense? What have you found helpful? Please add your comments below.<\/span><\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Yeah, well, y’know that’s just, like, your opinion, man.” -The Big Lebowski We have entered a period in our history where we have elevated what our senses can perceive as facts, while we relegate abstract principles to the realm of opinions. \u00a0This is not healthy. No sane man would question the sensory data that demonstrate […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20,55,85],"tags":[153,154,158,159,156,155,157],"class_list":["post-953","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-logic","category-wisdom","category-worldview","tag-art","tag-objectivity","tag-poetry","tag-poetry-corner","tag-saxe","tag-subjectivity","tag-the-blind-men-and-the-elephant"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.therealgeobooth.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/953","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.therealgeobooth.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.therealgeobooth.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.therealgeobooth.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.therealgeobooth.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=953"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.therealgeobooth.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/953\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":963,"href":"https:\/\/www.therealgeobooth.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/953\/revisions\/963"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.therealgeobooth.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.therealgeobooth.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.therealgeobooth.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}