We as a culture accept many things as TRUTH. In the article, "Beyond the Realm of Reason," a term known as habitus, which "are patterns of thought inculcated in us through a lifetime." This means that as we go through life, things that are instilled in us are things that we percieve as TRUTH. Things such as learning different subjects in school, being taught certain things by our parents, and through other experiences of our lifetime. I talked to my grandfather over the weekend about what he learned and experienced in the war, and the things that were and were attempted to be instilled in him had a deffinite affect on his life. He witnessed his buddies being killed all around him and he told me that "the only good Kraut was a dead one." He developed this TRUTH in his mind...this was his own (and probably every American's personal TRUTH about the Germans). Through what he saw happen around him in the Battle of the Bulge, my grandpa decided that the Germans he was fighting were ALL bad...and this was coming from a man who has German blood in him, which is interesting. This proves that the experiences we go through in life can alter how we think and make us develope a TRUTH.
On the "Science and Culture" section of the Discovery Institute's website, i found an article called "Explore Evolution Textbook and Website." This article talked about how "the majority of biology textbooks in use today are ‘dumbed-down’ and do a poor job explaining evolution,” which relates to Robin's article in the sense that it's like one of the problems that Robin mentions..."they write nonsense and they must know it." Now, evolution may not be nonsense, but the writers DO need to do a better job at explaining it. Reading about evolution in textbooks DOES present a truth to us. We begin to accept it via Habitus...the only problem is that religion can play a role in what we accept from science as Truth. I myself am Catholic and we believe that man was made by God (Adam and Eve). Human evolution isn't something we stand behind. I went to Catholic school my whole life (until now, obviously) and we didn't really learn about evolution as a truth..more as a scietific theory. So for me, my parents instilled in me my Catholic Faith and I accept that as TRUTH. As I have gone through life, my Catholic Faith has brought me out of some tough situations. Being Catholic makes my patterns of thought (habitus) different from those of Jewish people, Baptists, etc. since they were instilled with a different religion.
As you can see, it's all about what our own habitus is. What we experience and learn throughout life, especially as children when our minds are like sponges, sticks with us and we develop truths. So our own personal truths in life come from what we know and experience. These things may or may not be REAL truths...one might say a rock is a tree, when it truly is only a rock. Once again, it all goes back to our culture and society and how we were brought up.
I like your brief comment about your religious beliefs. I am catholic too and often think how different my beliefs would be if my parents had brought me up in a different religion. I accept my religious beliefs as my own "truths" simply because that is how I was raised. Because people all come from different backgrounds, you are right in asking what really is a "truth"?
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with what you said about certain things being instilled in us, like your grandfather who has german blood but still hates germans. I think it also relates to people who do not believe they are racist but are. For instance since I've been here at Minnesota, I've met people from very small towns that are almost entirely white, so they've gotten their perceptions of black people from the media and/or news which doesn't always put African-American people in the best light. One of these people I met said that they are kind of scared of black people. They said the last thing they want to do is be racist, but they feel like a bit of racism has been instilled in them from predominantly being around only one race. It is difficult to go against our "habitus" because it really is like a habit which is aways hard to break.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with you and Jane about things being instilled in us. In my American Indians in Minnesota class we talked a lot about how many things were instilled into the indians to make them believe certain things that were not true. For example, the euro-Americans were telling the Indians that if they followed their religion and culture they would go to hell because they were trying to christianize them and change their traditional ways. This relates to how you were talking about your grandfather who hated germans, although he is german which seems kind of weird. But its they way our society and culture puts the 'truth' into us and makes us believe things that arent always true.
ReplyDeleteAnd by the way you had a great post John!
Got to weigh in here in favor of the Roman Church as a SUPPORTER of evolution. Long ago, there was Catholic resistance, but through all the 20th century, the Church supported science.
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