Conatus: REVISED EDITION by Tom Wallace - HTML preview

C O N A T U S

narratives some kind of special privilege, despite the careful scientific method that is explained above. It is this belief in an ‘essential truth’ that I believe is critical to the way the world is approached. So the paradox is that, while there is a claim to be abiding by all these formal methods of gathering and analysing data, people are really just interested in clinging to the best stories!

Mysterianism and phenomenology, two of the further types of truth mentioned at the end of the previous chapter, will be taken up later in the book. For now, we can summarise what we’ve examined here by saying — critics of the search for truth and meaning must themselves assume truth, free will, fairness and the relevance of subjectivity, even when they’re arguing that these things don’t exist!

When we reach the edges of our physical — and indeed, mathematical — understanding, we run into rather puzzling phenomena — nothingness, infinity and infinite time — eternity. Truth-seeking itself, I’d suggest, often hits against one or more of these puzzles sooner or later. So it’s important to say something about them. They are the subjects of our next two chapters.

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