Facts in Free Thinking

EKKENTROS FORUM


The Matter: Report of the proceedings of the discussion held on 12-5-09 (Tuesday)

Venue: Residence of Sri K.V.Kunhikrishnan, IRS(Retd), Patikkal, Kavumbagam, tellicherry-670110
Coram: Seven members attended. Dr.abdulla and Prof Mohanan Nair could not attend as both were out of station.
Sri. K.V.Kunhikrishnan:
We had briefly touched upon this subject in our tenth anniversary proceedings but had no opportunity or facility to discuss the subject in detail.
Fact is a casualty in today’s world. A stage has come when we cannot rely on any information whatsoever that we come across in the media. They are manipulated by personal or group interests. As our Forum stands for free unbiased thinking, we have a stake in the premises based on which we think, and the premises are facts. The first requisite for free thought is the correctness of facts and a respectful commitment to facts. The other requisites are of course, clear logic, understanding the other, and willingness to change one’s opinion.
The main requirement is getting the facts. When we have direct knowledge, facts are clear and self evident. For example, when I tell you that I am old, you see straight that I am old. Nobody will deny. But when I say that I am over eighty, it can only be a reliable belief to you because it is not in your direct knowledge. There is no proof. That is why I have to produce my birth certificate to get enhanced pension on crossing the eightieth year. In day to day life we believe and rely on so many doubtful facts without evidence that the conclusions arrived at are very often widely off the mark. So, what is the remedy? Doubting anything and everything till authentic proof is obtained is no remedy, and is neither practical. But a healthy skepticism has to be maintained while having an open mind. Those who do not have an open mind cannot be unbiased.
Facts are generally elusive. It has different perspectives. There are different versions to the same set of facts. But the deliberate distortions of facts have to be recognized and discarded diligently.
Those who do not have an open mind can never find out the truth. Anybody who is wedded or committed to a dogma can never be free thinkers because he has already surrendered his mind/brain to fixed ideas. He will accept as facts only what suits his blind beliefs To avoid conflicts we need free thinkers. Future leaders have to be free thinkers who can influence the ideologists to change and be free. This is not to discount any dogma or ideology, or to say they are wrong or right. But the necessity to have open minded people in this age is very important. merely tolerating the other point of view is not enough. One must fully understand and respect the opposite point of view also. Then there cannot be any violent conflict. Facts have a most important function here.
When I was a student of sixth and seventh standard we had two Newspapers in Malayalam. The Mathrubhoomi and the Kerala Patrika. All people believed whatever was published in those papers, and rightly so because there were no contradictions or differences in facts. Facts were never disputed because non-verified facts were never published. Of course there were deliberate distortions like those by Sanjayan for the sake of humourous writings that used to appear in Kerala Patrika. The 8th column of the paper was reserved for him. What I mean is that things have changed so much that today we do not know on what to rely and what not. This is not to blame anybody, but only to highlight the pitiable helplessness of the readers.
Today if you read four newspapers you will get four versions of the same small incident. Everything seems to be distorted and politicized. It is difficult to get at the truth and form any opinion. Truth is always hidden somewhere. And even to find the truth of a very small incident you may have to appoint a commission and wait for several years! Most Newspapers can be read only as fiction not as facts.
There is a book called Flat Earth News by Nick Davies, a journalist. He cites a typical example of how a false news is sensational. A news item was published in the Fleet Street Journal saying that a five year old boy was caught by a rowdy gang and tried to kill him by hanging by neck on a tree and that he somehow managed to escape. Most of the prominent papers like the guardian, Times, Mail and Evening News went on repeating it. Newspapers did not stop there. They published features about the atrocities that have increased in the city and the terror that have been unleashed.
But it appears that the real truth was only that a twelve year old girl tried to walk a boy of five like a dog by tying a leash around his neck and in the process he got some bruises on his neck! Nick Davies compares this with the vide coverage to the news that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. According to him only ten percent of the news published by newspapers are verified and authenticated. The rest are second hand news as handed out by interested public relation people or governmental agencies.
Once something has happened it has become the past. It has become the history. Unfortunately it has become “his story’, and not my story. My story is different, I claim. Everybody claims his story, his version, to be true. Of course it depends on one’s perspective. But if there is compassion, understanding, truth will emerge. A willingness to find truth may help. Capacity for discrimination is important. For recognizing facts from fiction the only thing one can rely on is one’s own direct intuitive perception and understanding without bias or preconceived notions. Too much stress has been made on logic and reasoning, which, although have helped man in scientific development, are actually only instruments for verification of intuitively obtained ideas.
I think, an open mind and willingness to understand the other point of view can help to sift facts from fiction.
Dr. K.P.Thomas: I first thought that free thinking was unbridled thinking without caring for facts or anything else. If free thinking is on its own considered a virtue facts are of no relevance. One goes on thinking of various aspects of a case from different angles till a conclusion emerges. Then naturally the decision based on incorrect facts will also be incorrect. The importance of facts are then recognized. Sometimes in a court of law we find that opposite parties go on putting arguments in all sorts of manner giving several reasons and law points on a matter before the judges without bothering about the facts. After considering all the forceful arguments if the judge comes to a conclusion he will be committing grave errors if facts are not checked. Free Thinking is thus not merely thinking freely with abandon as you like. Fact is the most important part of free thinking.
Prof. Hay: Just consider the case of P.J.Joseph, ex-Minister. The judgment of the court is in all the Newspapers to-day. What is the actual fact? Did he actually molest the lady or not? The allegation was outraging of her modesty while traveling in the aircraft. The court says the prosecution could not produce sufficient evidence. We cannot say that he is exonerated. One can neither say that he was innocent nor that he is guilty.
Dr. Babu Ravindran: A lady will not normally come forward with such an allegation openly in public unless she did feel really outraged. What would be her purpose otherwise? There is no possibility of any political conspiracy.
Dr. Thomas: Protection for ladies in such circumstances is difficult. It is one man’s word against the other. No direct evidence is possible. The innocent, the minister or the lady, suffers the humiliation and consequential losses.
Dr. Babu Ravindran: In the film ‘Sakshi’ recently seen, an innocent is thus hanged because the truth was never revealed.
Prof. Sankarankutty: The truth should come out from the bud of fact and blossom naturally. Facts are different from truth. To-day’s fact may not be a fact tomorrow. Things change and therefore facts also change. But truth never changes. Unlike truth, facts get twisted and turned in the folds of time and space. In the legal proceedings, facts are found out and established by examining evidences and cross questioning witnesses. In the process a lot of violence may be done to facts as the judge watches on. A fact is thus temporary.
Sri. Kunhikrishnan: But often we use the word fact as synonymous to truth. An established fact is considered true.
Dr. Thomas: There is the difficulty with languages. Words will have different meanings at different times and therefore meanings are never precise. Meanings and grammar are formed in the brain. American linguist Noam Chomsky has written about it.
Prof. Sankarankutty: He said that actually there is no need to teach or learn grammar. Human being knows the general principles of language by birth. It is the way of thinking later codified into a form of rules or grammatical structures for uniformity. Language itself is actually unreliable because what is expressed is not exactly what is intended or understood. Everywhere there is infection of facts. How to disinfect facts is the question.
Dr. Babu Ravindran: Time and space do affect facts. Earth was flat earlier and that was a fact then. Now it is round and that is accepted as fact.
Prof. Sankarankutty: Facts get altered in time and space but truth always remains the same.
Sri Kunhikrishnan: Mathematics as such never changes. Two plus two is always four when two, four and addition are defined.
Dr. Sadanandan: But perceptions of it do differ and change. For those who do not understand mathematics even the fact that two plus two is four need not be a fact. It can be a bigger two.
Dr. Thomas: It is a well known fact that Omar Khayam was a man who loved and wrote about wine and women. Now I understand that he was a mathematician as well. What is truth or fact?
Sri. Kunhikrishnan: He was actually a mystic. Ultimately I think, fact is a state of the mind. When a mind is settled on a matter it is accepted as a fact. But it need not be true.
Dr. Sadanandan: Truth cannot be explained. When I explain it, it becomes only ‘my explanation’ having nothing to do with the actual truth. Prophetic sayings may be slightly different because they come out with the light of truth. But when explained they become mere words. Truth when explained becomes merely versions of facts.