@ Volker
2025-02-15 12:48:10
Warning, deep thought ahead. I've come to a conclusion what the inherent problem between the political left and right is. And yes, obviously there are many more dimensions that L/R, but you'll see why they are very relevant. Read on; we'll get into left vs right, tradition vs renewal, and two of the five theories of truth. The last point will blow your mind!
Managers and Engineers:
There are people who work with things, objects, systems, etc. And there are people who work with people, emotions, opinions etc.
Those who work with people (managers, politicians, etc.), will get SOFT feedback if what they do doesn't work. I.e. their feedback loop is social: disagreement, dislike, loss of trust, etc.
Due to its nature, this feedback can be alleviated by social means: invitation to dinner, to a golf club, provision of a higher position etc. So this type of feedback is very, very soft and squishy. In the world of the manager or politician, there can be lots of massive screw-ups over a long period of time, before it really affects the screw-upper.
OTOH, the people who work with and on objects or systems get no such breaks. If the plane is too heavy, it will fall out of the sky. If your code is buggy, it will crash and might cost lives. If you miscalculate the amount of TNT for a mine blast, there goes your mine. And so on. The feedback cannot be discussed with; it is real, final, and often lethal.
It is this kind people out of whose effort came what now stands as our civilisation: the buildings, machines, processes, values, and even social systems that have proven to ACTUALLY WORK across a wide array of circumstances and over a long period of time. Our tradition. Our culture.
This is essentially the right side of the political spectrum. It is relatively static, individualistic, and typically considered more of a male thing.
The other side, obviously, is the left side. It typically is creative, dynamic, sometimes chaotic, collectivist, and female.
So far, there's probably not much here that you haven't heard from Jordan B. Peterson, but I found it important to sum these up so the interesting part (coming up right now) is more easily digested.
Truth? What Truth?
It is a sad fact that most people take the word "truth" for granted, without understanding that HOW we constitute truth is not universal. In fact, there are five relevant (plus at least two not so relevant) theories of truth. What I want you to take away from this is, that unless you identify what type of truth the other party is relying on, you will most likely either be fighting windmills, barking up the wrong tree, just not reaching them, or waste your time in some other unfortunate way. So what types of truth are there? I'll shortly list and explain the five types, then we get to how that relates to L/R politics.
Pragmatical truth answers the question: Does it solve a real problem? A - by definition - useful type of truth, especially for individualists, engineers, scientists, etc. Using a lever to move a heavy object DOES WORK, no matter how many people think it doesn't. It's not debatable, and people who use this kind of truth are often convinced of being right. Though they ay fall short, as you'll see below.
Coherence truth answers the question: Is it correct within its own framework? This is the type of truth that's important for mathematics, logic, rule based systems (e.g. chess), and similar. Example: moving a rook diagonally across a chess board is FALSE in coherence truth, but TRUE in pragmatical truth. That is because pragmatical truth takes place outside the ruleset of chess. It happens in the real world, and moving the the rook was physically possible.
Consensus truth answers the question: Is it accepted as TRUE by a well-meaning, rational, and competent majority? This is the truth that is most important for the manager, the politician, the influencer, the collectivist. "Look, if we all agree that masks and vaccines will prevent infections, then it DOES, OK? Stop your conspiracy theories, trust the science! Also, climate catastrophe is real!" You can move the rook diagonally if you can somehow whine enough about being oppressed by the rules. This truth is very useful for organizing and manipulation masses of people. The really bad thing about this truth is, that the definition of well-meaning, rational, and competent is subject to this same truth. IOW, we can exclude from consensus truth anyone who "destroys the vibes". This is how "cancelling" became a thing.
Correspondence truth answers the question: Does it actually get me ahead in real life? It is a mixture of pragmatical truth and consensus truth. Being able to move the heavy objects with your whiz-bang lever might actually work, but it may also spoil the relationship you had with the higher-up you just exposed as a dummy/liar/fraud, because he said it can't be done. Sorry, no career advancement for you, buddy. This is probably the most useful type of truth to employ in day to day life, but it may be hard to achieve unless you understand, or are at least aware of, the other types.
The core of the problem:
I believe the political left relies too much on consensus truth. Their weak feedback mechanism, social media driven consensus groups, and being able to skip hard to swallow pills to avoid discomfort, have worked together to create a gigantic blob of unreflected, uncorrected self-righteousness that finally, at least in the USA, seems to have found the needle that will pop it.
I sure hope more needles are growing. Thanks for reading!
Oh, and here's the last one.
Phenomenological truth answers the question: Does or does not the statement describe an experience precisely? This is mainly useful for philosophy. Now you know. Yay!