2007-02-15 05:37:50 · 10 answers · asked by Asilos Magdalena 1 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Philosophy
Why do we tend to consider our opinions as absolute truths? How do we benefit from believing we are 100% right?
2007-02-15 05:39:38 · update #1
Makes us feel safer, and keeps us from having to stretch our gray matter.
2007-02-21 06:23:35 · answer #1 · answered by Croa 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Read Fritjof Capra, 'Tao of Physics', etc, etc
Apparently it is all to do with Cartesian thinking - or the invention of plurality, body AND soul, Cause and Effect etc. This led to linear thinking, through Newton, and the scientific paradigm. Language, on which most of our advanced cognition and self-awareness is built, is also a linear faculty.
To cut a long story short, the discovery of Quantum Mechanics, and the fact that we cannot know the speed and position of a quanta of energy, has led to another paradigm - NON-linearity, or Systems Thinking. Absolutely everything is dependent on everything else and a butterfly flapping its wings in the east can cause a hurricane in the west - a lot of folks guessed this already!
Systems thinking does not have absolutes, direct Cause and Effect links, so there is a very big campaign and movement to get people to stop controlling Nature and start copying it.
And we can stop having Absolutes, thinking in Absolutes, and arguing about Absolutes - magic.
2007-02-15 14:07:22 · answer #2 · answered by steveb9458 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Your question is slightly ambigious, but from what I do understand, you are really asking is
"Why do people seek to understand the mechanics of human interaction when it is just a product of evolution?"
The guts of evolution have produced such a complex nueron system that has evolved through so many different complex situations countless times, that it is in effect, a computer hundreds of thosands of times more powerful than any silicon based computer we can create.
The peculiarity of the human brain is that since it has gone though all these situations, the interactions it provides with ulterior brains, determine the sociological interactions based on ancients instincts. The way that humans have evolved dictates our social behavior, but since we are not intimately aware of evolution, we must work to find the mechanics of our subconcious.
2007-02-15 13:45:08 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
You seem to have such a strong belief that everybody is so small minded and doesn't have the time to consider all the options. You ultimately presume that everybody believes in their own opinion 100%, and isn't simply just willing to have their word to get everybody else thinking.
2007-02-23 07:03:33 · answer #4 · answered by Mercenary Poet 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Our tendency to consider ourselves correct does not come from evolutionary pressures, it is simply the nature of the human ego to consider what is in our own mind as being of greater value and importance than it might actually be. It is an effect of only knowing our own thoughts and being isolated from the thoughts of others.
2007-02-15 13:43:05 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
insecure people have to be 100% right all of the time. Confident people don't have to be right all the time. They know that making decisions whether right or wrong are essential for growth.
2007-02-22 19:43:01 · answer #6 · answered by flirl1027 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
it is learned behavior. Our benefit is the diminished degree of a negative response or action
2007-02-22 16:16:52 · answer #7 · answered by bill.2933 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
People want certainty in their uncertain lives. They fail to take heed that all that evolution grants us is uncertainty and change.
2007-02-15 13:42:26 · answer #8 · answered by Sophist 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
self affirmation! but from a statistical, psycholgical viewpoint we are only looking for 95%
2007-02-19 18:29:01 · answer #9 · answered by maggiemaydoll 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Absolutely no-one does what you claim.
2007-02-21 11:28:21 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋