2007-03-22 04:03:20 · 11 answers · asked by Johnny Afman 5 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Philosophy
Since I've never been to outer space, how do I know, positively, that we have been to the moon, or even left the planet. All I really get is hearsay from the news and the internet. How am I supposed to know that everything I experience on a daily basis is really there, and this whole life I live isn't something like The Truman Show, without being so narcisistic?
2007-03-22 04:07:43 · update #1
Plus how am I expected to believe all the things I've been taught in school, as "facts", because lately I've been seeing how our own government and society lies through their teeth at every instance. How do I know that history isn't just a giant farse? Everytime someone takes over the previous history is destroyed and rewritten.
2007-03-22 04:10:46 · update #2
You are not expected. What is required is a prudential judgement in regards to what might be proposed to you and the ability to make distinctions, and to clarify as to why you might agree or disagree. The need for certitude is one of the pathologies of modernity. All it does is paralyze the mind and frustrate the human spirit. Once you free yourself from this prejudice, wisdom becomes possible-- and an attitude of trust in the face of a human existence that is filled with uncertainty.
2007-03-22 10:03:04 · answer #1 · answered by Timaeus 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If someone has a better knowledge of yourself, if some know what you do not know just because you cannot know, as there are things universally known to be unknowable, then they might find themselves in a stronger manipulative position, where they might come up with a better explanation of your unknown than you could ever think of yourself.
In a positive light however, all religious thought try to define things that we do not know about, as they a beyond the reached of our knowledge, intellectual understanding and sensory perception. This is only the fact in truth that the established religions attempt not only to define what is unknowable in the human mind, they also guide us to manage what we know and what is knowable in the world. Therefore it is safe to have faith in establish religious tradition, as we can know things better when we know what we do not know through faith.
2007-03-22 04:16:04 · answer #2 · answered by Shahid 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No one has the mental and spiritual clarity to speak the "truth." Everyone speaks from a number of inherent limitations. Even with the best of intentions words are a very poor medium to use to express the "truth." I have found that the true and complete "truth" can only come from the Holy Spirit's communications with the part of your mind, the inner light, placed there by the creator in his image.
2007-03-22 04:16:27 · answer #3 · answered by b_steeley 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
In our democratic society, what majority believes and says is the truth irrespective of whether you believe it or not. However, you are fairly free to choose what you would or would not believe and you can try to convince others and get the majority on your side. What a mess this system has created by giving more value to quantity than to quality. Poor Galileo... he could not convince the majority.
2007-03-22 04:24:43 · answer #4 · answered by small 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You don' t have to. We go to school, to learn something, then next, we take more further educations and learn more. Everyday we can learn something from life we are in and we have been, if we are open and curious. Then we can see and think accordingly to the knowledge we have learned. So we began to be more more critical with the things we have seen, we have heard etc. So the more knowledge we have, the more we are critical. That is all about.
2007-03-22 05:05:18 · answer #5 · answered by ninka 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Do these "facts" have any real bearing on your life? I know the answer is probably no. So just go along with it, as with any good story, and when it does matter, you'll know the difference. All things are not given at once for us to know, just those few things we need to live our life.
2007-03-22 05:07:50 · answer #6 · answered by Sophist 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You aren't. Ultimately you have to make decisions based on what you know to be fact and by your gut feelings about any particular subject.
*Edit: Your personal truths are the only ones you can believe in. If you can't believe in those, you can't believe in anything else.
2007-03-22 04:06:12 · answer #7 · answered by ? 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
My Grandmother used to say "Only believe half of what you see and none of what you hear." I'll always remember that.
2007-03-22 04:08:11 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Think for yourself. Question authority!
2007-03-22 04:39:32 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Who expects you to do that?
2007-03-22 04:06:42 · answer #10 · answered by dog8it 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋