I read an interesting article on Wikipedia tonight, listing common misconceptions about about science, physiology, religion and various other subjects. Now, Wiki isn't the definitive source of, you know, stuff, but it wasn't too in depth and it was an interesting read. One consistent theme seemed to be that these misconceptions are propagated by people hearing them and assuming they're true. It seems that someone designated more intelligent claimed something, which was in turn taken to be true by other folks. How strange.
Following my claim that one shouldn't believe anything until they have a specific reason to, and not the other way around, in a tutorial at uni, I was greeted with stunned looks. "Man, your life must be pretty empty" was the quote from my tutor. First of all, ouch. That's a pretty harsh thing to say to someone you barely know. But I have no evidence to support my life is empty, what with my friends, hobbies and interests, so no harm done. Second of all, if I can turn that statement on its head, how empty must your life be if you accept stuff without reason to? How poor must your opinion of your own judgement be if you buy into anything anyone says?
I'm not saying you shouldn't listen to ANYONE about ANYTHING. That's equally retarded. What I'm saying is that if someone posits an idea or a viewpoint and can only back it up with "I heard it somewhere" or "some guy said it," it's a little flawed. Equally, just because you WANT to believe something, doesn't make it true. Obviously, if someone with a qualification makes a statement about their field, and can back it up with clear reasoning or a citation of a recognised text, go nuts, believe it all you want. That's not an argument from authority, it's how one should approach all information.
Do I believe anything without proper reasoning? Sure. I believe country music sucks the big one. Like, aggressively. It's just a really bad form of music, in my opinion. But that's an opinion, not a truth or a worldview. You can argue that everyone is entitled to whatever worldview they want, but is that really fair? Are people really entitled to believe just anything without proper rationalisation or proof? Should we abide that kind of thing? It's a big, philosophical question that I cannot answer. However, I can say that it has been proven that people's worldviews can actively cause harm; see racism, homophobia, religious killings et al. Are you really doing the right thing by other people by NOT grounding all your views and opinions in reality and observations? It might offer you some comfort or help you make sense of your life, but really, you're just making stuff up to make yourself feel better.
I encourage everyone to be a cynic, a skeptic and basically a massive naysayer about EVERYTHING. If anyone makes any claim to you, ask them to prove it. Ask them to back it up. And bone up on logical fallacies, knowing about them is the greatest weapon against misinformation. I'm talking arguments from authority, arguments from popularity, all that stuff. They're great to know. The Wiki article is a pretty good start, and "The Art of Always Being Right" by Schopenhauer is also a good read, if a little florid and dense. The point is, be skeptical, doubt everything and search for reasoning in everything you do.
P.S. If I get any comments along the lines of "but you just believe in science as much as we do in [insert left field, unverified idea here], I will write a post probably even longer than this one about why that is incorrect.
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