What's Happened To (The Pursuit Of) Truth?
Something's really just struck me.
That's not right--it struck me a long time ago, but it's struck me again, in a way that seems new or new-ish. Maybe just with renewed force. I dunno.
But:
What's happened to the quest for truth?
Or its pursuit, if you prefer the more prosaic Quinean formulation.
I complain repeatedly about political correctness, i.e. the left's subordination of truth to political dogma. (The right does it, too, of course. Everybody does it sometimes. But 'political correctness' is properly a specifically leftist phenomenon, and it's the left that I think is most dangerous in this respect.)
One now so commonly encounters arguments (like the one on transgenderism by Mark Lance discussed here) pushing for the suppression of open inquiry that they're barely outrageous anymore. Which, of course, is one of the aims--to "normalize" such things, that is. Even in academia. Even in philosophy. It struck me last year that in many discussions of trendy leftist initiatives (e.g. to promote "diversity"), people like me have to explicitly argue that facts should matter, and that they should be confronted openly and honestly even if unpleasant. I normally take that so for granted that I never think to say it. Realizing that it does have to be said is...alarming. To say the least. Horrifying, actually.
I fear that, via the sheer weight of repetition, insistence, and social disapproval, we're moving toward a state in which it's going to become more and more difficult to get people to recognize--or remember--that truth matters, and is prior to politics.
This hooks up with my concern that, almost every time I hear someone expressing concern about our "post-truth" politics, they are complaining about Donald Trump--and they rarely mention the threat on the left. A threat I consider much greater, incidentally. Trump has no anti-truth theory, nor do his supporters. He's a liar and a bullshitter--different only in degree and not in kind than ordinary political liars and bullshitters. The left, however, has a theory. A whole array of them. The subordination of truth to dogma isn't a mere ad hoc convenience with them--it's a principle. That is: it's not something they'll take up and drop again indifferently as it might or might not help them achieve other aims. It's an aim in itself--something that they'll find new ways to promote if old ways don't work. That's what makes them, ceteris parabus, more dangerous. Trump is, the POTUS, of course--and that matters. But, as I often say: he'll be gone in 1.5-5 years. The left, on the other hand, controls the entire cultural superstructure, and they will continue to do so for the rest of my life and yours, probably. That's another thing that makes them more dangerous.
That's not right--it struck me a long time ago, but it's struck me again, in a way that seems new or new-ish. Maybe just with renewed force. I dunno.
But:
What's happened to the quest for truth?
Or its pursuit, if you prefer the more prosaic Quinean formulation.
I complain repeatedly about political correctness, i.e. the left's subordination of truth to political dogma. (The right does it, too, of course. Everybody does it sometimes. But 'political correctness' is properly a specifically leftist phenomenon, and it's the left that I think is most dangerous in this respect.)
One now so commonly encounters arguments (like the one on transgenderism by Mark Lance discussed here) pushing for the suppression of open inquiry that they're barely outrageous anymore. Which, of course, is one of the aims--to "normalize" such things, that is. Even in academia. Even in philosophy. It struck me last year that in many discussions of trendy leftist initiatives (e.g. to promote "diversity"), people like me have to explicitly argue that facts should matter, and that they should be confronted openly and honestly even if unpleasant. I normally take that so for granted that I never think to say it. Realizing that it does have to be said is...alarming. To say the least. Horrifying, actually.
I fear that, via the sheer weight of repetition, insistence, and social disapproval, we're moving toward a state in which it's going to become more and more difficult to get people to recognize--or remember--that truth matters, and is prior to politics.
This hooks up with my concern that, almost every time I hear someone expressing concern about our "post-truth" politics, they are complaining about Donald Trump--and they rarely mention the threat on the left. A threat I consider much greater, incidentally. Trump has no anti-truth theory, nor do his supporters. He's a liar and a bullshitter--different only in degree and not in kind than ordinary political liars and bullshitters. The left, however, has a theory. A whole array of them. The subordination of truth to dogma isn't a mere ad hoc convenience with them--it's a principle. That is: it's not something they'll take up and drop again indifferently as it might or might not help them achieve other aims. It's an aim in itself--something that they'll find new ways to promote if old ways don't work. That's what makes them, ceteris parabus, more dangerous. Trump is, the POTUS, of course--and that matters. But, as I often say: he'll be gone in 1.5-5 years. The left, on the other hand, controls the entire cultural superstructure, and they will continue to do so for the rest of my life and yours, probably. That's another thing that makes them more dangerous.
posted by Winston Smith at
10:48 AM
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