Be Open to the Truth

I have a bachelor’s degree in Philosophy.  Sometimes I feel embarrassed to admit that, since I think a lot of people’s reaction would be “What can you do with a degree in Philosophy?”  But, I’m glad that I studied Philosophy and believe it has benefited me greatly throughout my life.

Philosophy is about the meaning of life, what we know, how we know it and how to live ethically. Having a philosophical perspective on life means being open to new ideas, new experiences, new information.  It means being willing to consider ideas, experiences and information, even if they seem to conflict with our currently-held beliefs.  It means thinking critically about our experiences and not just accepting things as true because we saw it on tv, read it in the paper or heard it from a politician.

During my senior year in college, I wrote a paper about philosophy and ideology.  As opposed to philosophy, which is open to all information, ideas and experiences, ideology is rooted in specific ideas and rejects concepts that don’t fit with them.  Presented with new information, philosophy would evaluate it, try to determine its validity and see how it could fit in with the current belief system.  This process might result in that belief system being modified.  Ideology would reject it if it were not compatible with the current belief system.

Racism is a good example of an ideology.  Many people who grew up in the southern United States before the civil rights movement, held a deeply rooted belief that black people were, by nature, inferior to whites.   That belief made them reject facts that would have required them to accept blacks as equals.  Another example of an ideology is the belief of many Americans that global warming does not exist, despite a consensus among most scientists that it is a reality.

We all have a natural tendency to accept certain information and ideas and shut out others.  It’s easier to do this than to leave ourselves open to information and ideas that challenge our current belief system.  However, I think that conservatives in America have a greater tendency to do this.  For example, currently one of the major tenets of conservatism is that taxes not be increased for any reason.  This belief is practically absolute.  No matter what’s happening in our country, taxes must remain as they are; or, better yet, be decreased.  It’s the solution to everything.  If the economy is doing well, the best way to keep it that way is to decrease taxes.  If the economy is doing poorly, decreasing taxes will help it improve.

Another example of conservative ideology is its opposition to regulations.  The belief is that all regulations stifle American business.  There is no acknowledgement that deregulation of the financial industry resulted in a worldwide economic crisis that we are still suffering through.  Related to this is the concept that millionaires and billionaires need to have their taxes reduced so they can be job creators.  Their taxes have been reduced and it hasn’t led to significant job creation.  It doesn’t work – but conservatives won’t admit it.  The belief of many conservatives that President Obama was not born in the United States is based on ideology.  When his long form birth certificate was released, the reaction of some conservatives was that it must be a fake.

Let’s all work at not becoming ideologues, people who won’t take the risk of considering new information and ideas that don’t fit in with our current beliefs.  Let’s be open to new ideas.  Let’s evaluate them carefully.  Let’s be willing to change our ideas and beliefs if we encounter new ideas that are valid and truthful.  Let’s act like philosophers!