"Authority"
Throughout one’s life, people are told things and expected to believe them. After all, the function of communication is the exchange information. Occasionally, though, people do something called lie that is intended to misinform. Based on this misinformation, they hope that one will act in a way that benefits the liar. Fully aware that people are out there to misinform, people search for authority in a source to determine if the source is reliable. To battle this, liars, in turn, create false authority. It is a twisted game. There are several ways to gain authority, but the methods are imperfect.
1) Personal Experience.
Generally, if an individual has a personal first-hand experience, people believe them. For instance, I lived in China and when I tell people that China is X or China is Y, people tend to believe it. Often, what I say contradicts their previous beliefs which causes them confusion. Do they believe me or do they believe a book or the news? It’s difficult for them. After all, people lie or can be weird. I run into people all the time that do not believe my stories of the Middle East. No, no, I tell them, everyone was quite friendly and there was little hatred of Americans. But the news or a pamphlet tells them something else. Who should they believe?
For instance, last weekend I went to a party and began talking to my friend’s wife. She told me that her father-in-law owned a jewelry store. Huh, I knew her father-in-law; he was a government contractor. I inquired about this. She replied that the jewelry store was a part-time gig. Really? No, she was joking and ended up thinking I was gullible. But there was a moment I believed her. Why? Because her personal experience trumped mine and she knew the father-in-law better. None-the-less, in this instance, it turns out the person with less personal experience was right.
2) Experience Through Knowledge
A second way to gain authority is to study an issue. Often people say they “read” something, as if the written word is better than the spoken. Often they read it in the newspaper. Ah, but which newspaper? Which reporter? Liars battle newspapers’ authority by calling them biased or creating their own “news” sources. What about academia? A book, a class or a degree can help you gain authority. But, again, liars like to call them biased and battle back with psuedo-intellectualal sources.
In economics, there are now infinite sources of “credible” individuals that claim cutting taxes is good for the economy and individuals that claim cutting taxes is bad for the economy. Who to believe? One could study this issue for decades and still not know the answer. Even for an issue that is clearly truth (i.e. evolution), an infinite number of sources exist to “debunk” this truth with “factoids”.
3) Authority Through Age, Fame or Popularity
A third rather weak method for authority is through age, fame or popularity. For some reason, if a practice or saying is old, famous or popular many believe it is true or has merit. This can come in the form of a proverb, a quote or a law or can come in the form of democracy. It is the reason why buildings are constructed in classical style and cultures fallaciously claim to thousands of years old. It’s the reason celebrities appear in commercials, why people quote Jefferson and why soda companies claim they won popular taste tests.
Using this method does not really make the things fact. First off, the past sucked. People got sick, they were rather stupid, they killed each other and the world worked rather poorly and significantly differently. People believed for thousands of years that the sun revolved around the earth, women were the servants of men and bathing was dangerous. Second, the majority is not always right. The majority of people in America believed Saddam helped plan 9/11, the majority of people in China believe that Mao was a really great guy and the majority of world thinks that an apocalypse is looming. Third, fame and success usually have mostly to do with luck, not due to a single practice (so stop looking to Trump as an example to follow!).
So, how do we find truth? Well, I suppose we can’t perfectly. But, we can get close by maximizing are sources, questioning people’s motivations and gaining as much first hand knowledge as possible. If you want to know about a country, go there. If you want to know about a subject, read from as many sources as possible. Use logic to determine if something is reasonable and always, always, always ask yourself why someone wants to communicate an idea to you. Is it just information exchange or are they looking for another soldier for their cause?
1) Personal Experience.
Generally, if an individual has a personal first-hand experience, people believe them. For instance, I lived in China and when I tell people that China is X or China is Y, people tend to believe it. Often, what I say contradicts their previous beliefs which causes them confusion. Do they believe me or do they believe a book or the news? It’s difficult for them. After all, people lie or can be weird. I run into people all the time that do not believe my stories of the Middle East. No, no, I tell them, everyone was quite friendly and there was little hatred of Americans. But the news or a pamphlet tells them something else. Who should they believe?
For instance, last weekend I went to a party and began talking to my friend’s wife. She told me that her father-in-law owned a jewelry store. Huh, I knew her father-in-law; he was a government contractor. I inquired about this. She replied that the jewelry store was a part-time gig. Really? No, she was joking and ended up thinking I was gullible. But there was a moment I believed her. Why? Because her personal experience trumped mine and she knew the father-in-law better. None-the-less, in this instance, it turns out the person with less personal experience was right.
2) Experience Through Knowledge
A second way to gain authority is to study an issue. Often people say they “read” something, as if the written word is better than the spoken. Often they read it in the newspaper. Ah, but which newspaper? Which reporter? Liars battle newspapers’ authority by calling them biased or creating their own “news” sources. What about academia? A book, a class or a degree can help you gain authority. But, again, liars like to call them biased and battle back with psuedo-intellectualal sources.
In economics, there are now infinite sources of “credible” individuals that claim cutting taxes is good for the economy and individuals that claim cutting taxes is bad for the economy. Who to believe? One could study this issue for decades and still not know the answer. Even for an issue that is clearly truth (i.e. evolution), an infinite number of sources exist to “debunk” this truth with “factoids”.
3) Authority Through Age, Fame or Popularity
A third rather weak method for authority is through age, fame or popularity. For some reason, if a practice or saying is old, famous or popular many believe it is true or has merit. This can come in the form of a proverb, a quote or a law or can come in the form of democracy. It is the reason why buildings are constructed in classical style and cultures fallaciously claim to thousands of years old. It’s the reason celebrities appear in commercials, why people quote Jefferson and why soda companies claim they won popular taste tests.
Using this method does not really make the things fact. First off, the past sucked. People got sick, they were rather stupid, they killed each other and the world worked rather poorly and significantly differently. People believed for thousands of years that the sun revolved around the earth, women were the servants of men and bathing was dangerous. Second, the majority is not always right. The majority of people in America believed Saddam helped plan 9/11, the majority of people in China believe that Mao was a really great guy and the majority of world thinks that an apocalypse is looming. Third, fame and success usually have mostly to do with luck, not due to a single practice (so stop looking to Trump as an example to follow!).
So, how do we find truth? Well, I suppose we can’t perfectly. But, we can get close by maximizing are sources, questioning people’s motivations and gaining as much first hand knowledge as possible. If you want to know about a country, go there. If you want to know about a subject, read from as many sources as possible. Use logic to determine if something is reasonable and always, always, always ask yourself why someone wants to communicate an idea to you. Is it just information exchange or are they looking for another soldier for their cause?
posted by American Dilettante at
2:44 PM
2 Comments:
there are many truths.
By
Clever Hans, at 12:38 AM
First off, Yeti, you're using circular reasoning in claiming that collective subjectity is "better". Why do you claim it is better? Because the majority has accepted it. Why was it accepted? Because it was better. Circular.
Additionally circular is judging the merit of collective subjectivity based on utilitarianism which is a collective agregate of subjective embetterment.
You could easily play the same trick with individual subjectivity. I could claim my way of thinking is correct and better because I view every person accepting it. Everyone looks happy, therefore I must be right.
And again, I could easily play the trick with objectivity (though choosing a form of objectivity, like you said, may be subjective).
I also reject that every person's opinion is equal. You are subjectively placing in an objective criterion. Jury trials screw people over all the time (i.e. OJ) and base opinions on "feelings". Democracy certainly doesn't work in mental instituions. Someone who cannot hear certainly does not have a valid opinion on music.
Democracy is only used because it gives legitimacy to a system and tends to keep out really bad leaders (though Hitler and Bush were elected). It in no way leads to the correct solution. Its used because the public excepts it and not necessarily because it is superior.
A million people may claim they know how to dismantle a nuclear bomb, but I'm going to trust the authority of trained professional bomb squad guy.
By
American Dilettante, at 4:37 PM
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