In Praise of Doubt by Peter Berger

Author:Peter Berger
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2009-04-12T04:00:00+00:00

AREN’T THERE SOME TRUTHS THAT ARE ABSOLUTE?

The fact that truth stands open to falsification doesn’t mean that there’s no “doubtless” truth at all. There are, to begin with, the mathematical rules of thumb that no one in his right mind would subject to doubt and falsification. In all ages and in all times, it’s obvious that two added to three is five, and two multiplied by three is six. This is a commonsensical truth that any sane person ought to take for granted. Yet the truth of mathematics, like Pythagoras’s proposition, must be taught and learned. It’s not innate and naturally self-evident. In fact, it’s quite difficult to give a convincing verbal answer to the question of a child who asks why four added to four is eight and not nine or seven. The only thing to do is to take the hands of the child and start adding the fingers. Incidentally, for children of, say, five or six years old, who have already been taught the beginnings of arithmetic, it’s a wonderful discovery to find ten fingers and ten toes that can be counted, added, deducted, and multiplied. In fact, the fingers of a child function as a primitive abacus.

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