Absolut Truth: Neat with a Twist
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I was re-reading some old science fiction and tripped across some maunderings which seem relevant to current events.
The only absolute truth is change, and death is the only way to stop change. Life is a series of judgements on changing situations, and no ideal, no belief fits every solution. Yet humans need to believe in something beyond themselves. Perhaps all intelligences do. If we do not act on higher motivations, then we can justify any action, no matter how horrible, as necessary for our survival. We are endlessly caught between the need for high moral absolutes — which will fail enough that any absolute can be demonstrated as false — and our tendency for individual judgements to degenerate into self-gratifying and unethical narcissism. Trying to force absolutes on others results in death and destruction, yet failing to act beyond one's self also leads to death and destruction, generally a lot sooner.
— L.E. Modesitt Jr.
"The Parafaith War"
ISBN: 0-812-53894-3
Also cited in the same novel...
To oppose something is to maintain it.
— Ursula K. Le Guin
Which brings to mind another famous quote:
Conservatives define themselves in terms of what they oppose.
— George F. Will
It's interesting to see Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle and Newton's Third Law being applied to social dynamics... Philosophy, technology, physics, and history. The liberal arts all are intertwined when asking the single greatest question of all time. And no, that question is not "Why?"... The greatest riddle and most common theme through the ages has always been:
How do I justify what I just did?
It's fairly safe to say most people act on emotion, then back up their decision with logic.