There are five paths to truth, at least.
Knowing what truth is will probably aid our search for it. Defining should precede detecting. But no one agrees on what a fully satisfactory definition of truth would include. Like so many simple everyday issues, truth is more complex when you begin thinking about it.
We could define truth by it’s not being false but that’s not very satisfying. Let’s assume that a partial answer is that truth is when our internal representation matches the external world. True beliefs are accurate observations. Truth also involves consistency of beliefs. And truth is not distorted.
With an unsteady understanding of what truth is, it is no surprise there are varying views of how to find it. But let me suggest five basic paths to truth.
1. Wisdom
One path to truth is to ask older wiser sages for their wisdom. Wisdom literature began as storytelling and oral traditions. Eventually these insights were written down. The oldest fragments are probably those from Sumeria and Babylon, going back 5000 years or so.
Wisdom is not interested in factual truth. It is interested in making a point. It is acceptable to exaggerate how many people were in a battle as long as you understand how fierce the fighting was, and who won. Wisdom literature is more like telling how big the fish was you caught last year than an actual diary of events.Ancient wisdom literature contained stories, proverbs and dialogues. It gave advice and rules to live by. Modern wisdom literature includes horoscopes, fortune cookies and social media memes.
Oral traditions are not dead. Much of what we learn from others is passed on by word of mouth. Grandparents, parents and peer groups consistently greatly impact us by dispensing their wisdom. We learn tips and suggestions from gurus, sensei, teachers, and mentors.Wisdom’s scope of interest is on personal conduct or practical living. Wisdom literature and the advice of people more knowledgeable often emphasize the importance of insight.
Wisdom is the crowd sourcing path to truth. For this approach, truth is what others tell you.
2. Religion
Religion is another path to truth. It’s scope is spiritual and ethical questions. It often relies on revelation as its prime method of discovering truth. All the major religions seek to uncover or reveal truth. Truth is unchangeable, undistorted, and the ultimate goal.. There may be searching but truth will be revealed.
Some religions find truth in an objective reality. They argue that internal beliefs must align with external observations. This Correspondence Theory suggests there is a correspondence, correlation, or connection between a true statement and the physical world. As Thomas Acquires argued, in internal belief is true if it matches an external reality. This is probably what most people think of when they consider what is true. Do my beliefs about sunrise match what happens in the morning? I can believe the sun rises in the West but if it keeps coming up in the East there is a disconnect between subjective belief and objective reality.
Other religions are less dependent on an objective reality. Their focus is on internal realities. There is less concern about what happens to us, and more consideration of how we interpret and deal with events.
Although beliefs differ greatly between religions, religious behavior is remarkably similar. There are prayers to say, ways to live, and rules to follow. There is a strong sense of community, cosmic belonging and established rituals. Adherents believe they are right. A us-them distinction is common.
Each religion has its own music, art and festivals but fasting, meditation and good works are common practices. There are joint activities and private rituals. And Aathough religion tends to be systematic, there is ample room for individual interpretations.
3. Philosophy
Here is a third path to truth. Philosophy prefers logic as its method. It tests internal consistencies, and loves propositions and syllogisms.
Aristotle is a good example of trying to find truth through logically consistent propositions. Hegel agrees and sees the search for truth as a series of progressive approximations. Truth is a moving target. Kierkegaard is all in favor of trying to hit this moving target but warms that not everything can completely explained objectively. For philosophy, ideas have to fit together.
Fitting ideas together is reminiscent of an approach called Coherence Theory, which considers ideas in a broader context. Not only do individual statements have to be true, they have to fit together. All of the elements must fit together. This adds a nice emphasis on interconnectivity and completeness.
4. Science
Science focuses on observable events. It relies on systematic observation and replication. Science does well with describing repetitive events. It doesn’t do well with spiritual revelations or ad hoc wisdom but science works great on objective reality.
Researchers in psychology prefer to think of themselves as scientists. They regularly apply both logic and systematic observation to the problems they study. They may scorn the fluffy headed thinking of the clinicians but have been known to have a sudden burst of insight redirect their entire research enterprise.
Psychology is particularly fond of both researching principles and applying them clinically. The emphasis is on ideas but there is an added element of preferring useful ideas. This dual approach I can be readily seen in the work of William James, who was one of the principal proponents of Pragmatism.
Basically, it’s not true 9until you can apply it. If it doesn’t work in practice, it either isn’t true or it simply doesn’t matter. True and useless is as bad as being false.
5. Dumb Luck
Let me add chance as a path to truth. We like to think of progress as being linear but sometimes we just stumble over truth. Rather than follow a systematic approach, not trying is also a useful
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Now, let’s take a look at the philosophers that directly impacted the creation of psychology.
Philosophical Roots of Psychology
Want to jump ahead?
- Philosophical Roots of Psychology
- Waves & Schools of Psychology
- Old Philosophers, New Ideas
- Hobbes, Galileo & Descartes
- Experimental Physiology
- American Psychology
- Japanese Psychology
- German Psychology
- Russian Psychology
- Five Paths To Truth
- Birth of Psychology
- British Empiricism
- British Psychology
- French Psychology
- Wundt
Bonus
Transcript
The birth of psychology in the 1800’s is the result of thousands of years of”>The birth of psychology in the 1800’s is the result of thousands of years of thinking. Historically, psychology began as a combination of philosophy and experimental physiology. It uses the methodology of experimental physiology to answer the questions of philosophy.
Philosophy asks the questions of what makes people behave the way they do? Is there life after death and how do you get meaning out of life? The focus is on logical arguments and internally consistent propositions.
Experimental physiology was interested in measuring neurons, explaining how the brain works and discovering the basic elements of memory, learning and personality. It used laboratory equipment, experimental controls and replication to gather data and form testable hypotheses.
People have always had questions: Why am I here?What am I supposed to do? What makes people act the way they do? Is there life after death? What is the soul?
People have found many ways to answer their questions.
We have asked older wiser sages for their wisdom. We’ve looked to our religious moral and cultural training for answers. We’v e explored on our own. All the approaches have given us help. All illuminate part of our ignorance but none covers everything.
Religion’s scope is spiritual and ethical questions. It often relies on revelation as its prime method of discovering truth.
Wisdom’s scope of interest is on personal conduct or practical living. Wisdom literature and the advice of people more knowledgeable often emphasize the importance of insight.
Philosophy prefers logic as its method. It tests internal consistencies, and loves propositions and syllogisms.
Science focuses on observable events. It relies on systematic observation and replication.
Psychology steals from all these approaches. Clinical observations often heavily rely on practical wisdom, yet some therapies emphasize the importance of personal insight. And some therapists are so adamant their approach is correct, their beliefs are more religion than logic.
Researchers in psychology prefer to think of themselves as scientists. They regularly apply both logic and systematic observation to the problems they study. They may scorn the fluffy headed thinking of the clinicians but have been known to have a sudden burst of insight redirect their entire research enterprise.
In fact, we use all of these paths the truth, both as individuals and as disciplines. We use whatever tools seem best at the time. Truth is not the purview of one group. It’s broader than the approaches trying to discover it. We are all out looking for truth, using every tool we can, following every path we know. In my own personal search for truth I’ve used religion wisdom philosophy and science. But most often I go back to my favorite approach to life: dumb luck.
Psychology’s favorite approach combines two of the five paths. It uses science and philosophy. Psych likes the techniques of science, particularly those of experimental physiology, and psych seeks to answer the questions of philosophy. Although it now describes itself as the study of behavior, psychology began is the study of the psyche: the soul. It tries to find scientific explanations of why we act the way we do, how we are like others and what makes us unique. Who am I and what is the meaning to life are questions personality theories try to answer. Some theorists use computer modeling or mathematical formulas. Some use blotches of ink on cards some simply watch what people do.
But the questions have long been asked. To make our search easier we can benefit from the thinking and research of others. You don’t have to start from scratch. We can look at some of the questions others have asked, the answers they have found and the techniques they used.
See which of these paths you think Wilhelm Wundt used the most.
Photo by Johannes Plenio on Unsplash
