The Many-Faceted Intellectual Grounding of Reality
Posted: Thu Jul 10, 2014 4:42 am
Antarctica, too, is real because, although I've never been there and almost surely will never go there, Iv'e seen hundreds of photos of it, I've seen photos of it, I've seen photos of the whole Earth from Space including all of Antarctica, and also I once met someone who told me who went there, and on and on.
Why do I believe what certain people tell me more than I believe what others tell me? Who do I believe in (some) photos as evidence of reality? Why do I trust certain photos in certain books? Why do I trust certain newspapers, and why only up to a certain point? Why do I not trust all newspapers equally? Why do I not trust all book publishers equally? Why do I not trust all authors equally?
Through many types of abstraction and analogy-making and inductive reasoning, and through many long tortuous chains of citations of all sorts of authorities (which constitute an indispensable pillar supporting every adult's belief system, despite the insistence of high school teachers who year after year teach that "arguments by authority " are spurious and are convinced that they ought to be believed because they are, after all, authority figures), we build up intricate, interlocked set of beliefs as to what exists "out there" - and then, once again, that set of beliefs folds back, inevitably and seamlessly, to apply to our own selves.
The Many-Faceted Intellectual Grounding of Reality
Douglas Hofstadter
Why do I believe what certain people tell me more than I believe what others tell me? Who do I believe in (some) photos as evidence of reality? Why do I trust certain photos in certain books? Why do I trust certain newspapers, and why only up to a certain point? Why do I not trust all newspapers equally? Why do I not trust all book publishers equally? Why do I not trust all authors equally?
Through many types of abstraction and analogy-making and inductive reasoning, and through many long tortuous chains of citations of all sorts of authorities (which constitute an indispensable pillar supporting every adult's belief system, despite the insistence of high school teachers who year after year teach that "arguments by authority " are spurious and are convinced that they ought to be believed because they are, after all, authority figures), we build up intricate, interlocked set of beliefs as to what exists "out there" - and then, once again, that set of beliefs folds back, inevitably and seamlessly, to apply to our own selves.
The Many-Faceted Intellectual Grounding of Reality
Douglas Hofstadter