Krimel said: What motivates your choices; fear of uncertainty or lust for precision?
[dmb says:] Dewey, being naturalistic as he was, thought that the fear of uncertainty was the intellectual equivalent of the organism's fear of insecurity or desire for safety. This desire isn't crazy and we all feel it to some extent but it can overwhelm us and in the case of philosophy it leads us to desire what can never be had and that can make you a little crazy. [Krimel] We are powerless in the face of uncertainty. Uncertainty is the capricious face of Loki and Ananzi. It is the God who in Isaiah proclaims "I make good and I make evil." It is the God who's answer to Job is: I fucked you over because I am the master of the universe and I can. Uncertainty is the God who says, "My thoughts are not your thoughts and my ways are not your ways." Uncertainty is Shiva creator and destroyer of worlds. Uncertainty is pure Dynamic Quality and it can zap you if you stand too close. [dmb] In fact, recent psychological research suggests that the relative strength of this motive is what separates liberals from conservatives both politically and in terms of religion. To make a long story short, conservatives are more uncomfortable with uncertainty and so tend to adopt absolutist positions to ease their discomfort. Looking at the present state of the Republican party, this makes a great deal of sense. They've tended support the excesses of the war on terror for the sake of physical safety and the excesses of religious dogma for their "intellectual" security. I'd add that this same split is observable in the choices people make at our Universities and colleges. [Krimel] I certainly encourage your reading of actual research. Nothing but good can come of that for you. [dmb] I've heard more than one science and math student say he was drawn to such fields because, unlike things like literature, history and the other humanities, there is usually just one right answer. They like the precision of science. It makes them feel safe and certain, intellectually speaking. The professor of philosophy who teaches my Plato class was saying last time how he sees this same discomfort with uncertainties among the business students, who are "forced" to take an ethics class in the philosophy department. They don't want to engage with the ideas or otherwise think about it too much. They just want the final answer, the correct answer. Ha! As if there were one. [Krimel] I think that uncertainty is not the least bit less in science and math. It is just that the criteria for resolving it are clearer. Bohr's distinction between clarity and precision comes to mind. In the Romantic mode we achieve clarity. In the Classical mode we achieve precision. They are both means of reducing our sense of powerlessness in the face of the unknown and unknowable. But like Tony Stark, I ask, "Why should we have to choose?" Don't we get the best of both worlds when they are in harmony? Isn't harmony to be found in The Way. Doesn't, in fact, harmony _show_ us The Way? [dmb] My point? The rear of uncertainty and the lust for precision are more or less the same thing, two sides of the same coin and they can be quite intellectually crippling. In Buddhism they say that fear and desire is the cause of all suffering. I suppose that applies socially and intellectually every bit as much as it applies to the appetites of the flesh. [Krimel] The Buddhists say that what causes our sense of powerlessness in the face of uncertainty, is desire. Christian's handle uncertainty through submission to divine will. You know, the Serenity Prayer? William James would say that these claims are functionally equivalent responses to Uncertainty. I would say they both perpetuate Myths of Control. But, of course, you are right; these different orientations toward the problem produce different world views. Moq_Discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/
