https://thephilosophyforum.com/discussi ... ent/845652
One of the perennial problems in philosophy is why a general consensus or rational agreement is so hard to come by on virtually all the interesting topics. This is also a problem about philosophy, since the lack of agreement certainly has to give philosophers pause, and make them wonder about the value of what they’re doing. — J
The image that comes to mind while reading your post is that of the Blind Men and the Elephant. A plethora of perspectives will not yield unity of knowledge. So the ideal of Objectivity gradually emerged, to provide the god-like perspective that we now expect of Modern Science.
One postulated solution to that "perennial" conflict of opinions has been to politically agree on a single authority, whose opinion will overrule any lesser authority. So, primitive people bowed to the strongest man among them to decide controversial issues. But when strong-men resorted to violence, instead of reason, to reach consensus, the moderates looked for some higher authority. When Kings were found to work only on a tribal level, they postulated a singular Super-Human to rule them all. Yet unanimity of opinion continued to elude them.
20 centuries ago, the early Roman Church was internally divided due to various opinions on which "scriptures" were to be accepted as the "word of God". The result of their international Council of Nicea was the anthology we know today as "The Bible" : produced, after much wrangling and anathematizing. Since some concepts in that Authorized Version --- Trinity ; Body/Bread : Wine/Blood--- were contrary to common sense, Theologians began to approach The Discord Problem philosophically. But even applying Reason to matters of Faith did not result in unity of opinion. So, they agreed to accept the pagan Aristotle as a neutral authority on the nature of Nature. And the rest is history . . . . of excommunication & execution due to differences of opinion.
The moral of these stories may be to accept that human knowledge is incomplete, and subject to personal bias. But somehow we manage to move-on from these intersections of opinion. For example, in constitutional convention of 1787, Benjamin Franklin made a last desperate attempt to pull unity out of the fires of passion. He cautioned his fellow delegates that it is human nature to consider themselves to be "in possession of all truth." Then he pleaded " that every member of the Convention who may still have objections to it, would with me, on this occasion doubt a little of his own infallibility, and to make manifest our unanimity, put his name to this instrument".
Perhaps, the few remaining schools of Philosophy, should include Philosophical Humility in their curriculum. With that fire extinguisher at hand, maybe we can keep chipping away at the walls of intellectual pride & prejudice that divide us.
blindmen-elephant.gif
The moral of the parable is that humans have a tendency to claim absolute truth based on their limited, subjective experience as they ignore other people's limited, subjective experiences which may be equally true.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blind_men_and_an_elephant
The rest of the story :
In some versions, the blind men then discover their disagreements, suspect the others to be not telling the truth and come to blows. The stories also differ primarily in how the elephant's body parts are described, how violent the conflict becomes and how (or if) the conflict among the men and their perspectives is resolved. In some versions, they stop talking, start listening and collaborate to "see" the full elephant. In another, a sighted man enters the parable and describes the entire elephant from various perspectives, the blind men then learn that they were all partially correct and partially wrong. While one's subjective experience is true, it may not be the totality of truth.
Philosophical Humility :
Aristotle understood humility as a moral virtue, sandwiched between the vices of arrogance and moral weakness. Like Socrates, he believed that humility must include accurate self-knowledge and a generous acknowledgment of the qualities of others that avoids distortion and extremes.
https://positivepsychology.com/humility/