I'm currently taking a critical thinking class at school, and one of the things we heard on the first day of class is that we should, and over the course of the semester would, question our preconceived ideas and beliefs. At the time, I didn't think much of it. I didn't have a problem with examining my beliefs and reasoning. I expected that I would discover that I have very valid reasons to believe what I believe. Now, however, I'm not quite as sure.
While writing a paper about why facts sometimes fail to change people's minds, I read a pair of articles that basically state that people's strongly-held opinions can get in the way of their acceptance of truth. When they're faced with new information that contradicts something that they believe, some people disregard the new information and more firmly set themselves in their own opinions. No one likes being wrong.
The problem I have with this, apart from its implied argument against faith, is that I'm not sure how to tell whether or not I have this problem. Do I really have a good reason to believe the things that I believe, or have I been ignoring evidence that goes against my beliefs because it goes against my beliefs?
What the problem basically boils down to isn't that faith isn't logical; it's that I'm not sure that I can trust my own logic. If my biases are causing me to disregard facts, how can I know what's true? And this isn't just my problem. Everyone has their own biases. So how can anyone know what is or isn't true?
The funny thing is that even though the articles were mostly about the dangers of people disregarding facts because of their preconceived notions, what it has actually accomplished is the weakening of my faith in critical thinking. If our biases really do skew our thinking significantly, then we can't trust our logical thinking, so what we are left with is faith.
Then again, what if I only came to that conclusion because I already had a strong belief in the validity of faith? Maybe I'm only choosing to believe this interpretation because it supports my faith in faith.
Man, critical thinking is tricky! I hope I get better at it is the semester continues.
2 comments:
I took a class in college called "Logic as Critical Thinking". It was the best class I ever took because it taught me to understand argumentation, and be able to see fallacies and errors in editorials and commentary. However, the rules that apply to arguments don't always apply to things of the Spirit. We can't discern things of the spirit in the same way we can examine and know things in the physical realm, such as politics, economics, etc. Faith won't pass the critical thinking tests, but we can't get through life without it. I love the story (probably apocryphal)about the RM in a philosophy class where the professor says something to the effect that if we can't see it, hear it, touch it, taste it, or smell it, then it isn't real. The RM asks the professor if he has ever seen, heard, touched, tasted or smelled his own brain. Then submits to the class that their professor has no brain. (John Bytheway tells this story in one of his talks.) Things of the Spirit can only be discerned through the spiritual senses. And trying to describe it to someone who hasn't experienced it is like trying to describe what salt tastes like. Don't let this class rob you of your precious testimony. Hold fast to the Iron Rod, and press forward with steadfast faith in Christ. You don't need to examine your faith in the same way you examine your political beliefs.
Well said, Rozy Lass.
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