Dialectics
I have a critical mind. That is not always a blessing. Coupled with impatience and a strong sense of justice, my critical mind can be a source of great unrest. I have been possessed with an interest in contoversy for as long as I can remember. I have always enjoyed asking the questions that lead to the opposite of what is being claimed. If someone is saying this, what happens if the opposite is true? If this is what we ought to do, what happens if we do the opposite? If I am supposed to believe this, what happens if I believe the opposite?
If matter is ultimately reducible to very heavy, extremely dense pingpong balls called protons and neutrons, what happens if that is not true? If the force of gravity and the electromagnetic force have no direct relation to each other, what if that is wrong? If you tell me you want the best for me and you actually believe your own words, what if that still is not true? If you say happiness is produced by a practicing a certain conduct, what if you are wrong? If you tell me this behavior is inadmissible, what if you are wrong?
I will never stop asking such questions. Of course it is necessary to reach conclusions at some point, otherwise I will forever yoyo between the truth and falsehood of all propositions. I imagine then that my decision to accept a certain answer, thus bringing the critical dialectic to an end, will be a product and a revelation of the center of my beliefs. My true self, my original face.
If matter is ultimately reducible to very heavy, extremely dense pingpong balls called protons and neutrons, what happens if that is not true? If the force of gravity and the electromagnetic force have no direct relation to each other, what if that is wrong? If you tell me you want the best for me and you actually believe your own words, what if that still is not true? If you say happiness is produced by a practicing a certain conduct, what if you are wrong? If you tell me this behavior is inadmissible, what if you are wrong?
I will never stop asking such questions. Of course it is necessary to reach conclusions at some point, otherwise I will forever yoyo between the truth and falsehood of all propositions. I imagine then that my decision to accept a certain answer, thus bringing the critical dialectic to an end, will be a product and a revelation of the center of my beliefs. My true self, my original face.
posted by Mathijs at 7:48 AM
1 Comments:
But, after all, aren't you in pursuit of synthesis? Perhaps we need to question the antithesis of something so that we can first understand what it is not.
Hegel captured my attention at a young age and sent my mind whirling through dialectic materialism hot in pursuit of something I could not grasp until a much later age. When the "aha" hit me, it was like a cool breeze of wonder.
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