I’m trying to develop an idea like Buddhism’s Four Noble Truths and The Eightfold Path, which applies to human understanding of reality.
The Four Truths
1) There is an absolute, objective reality
2) Humans (as individuals or collectively) are incapable of knowing reality completely
3) Humans need to understand reality as much as possible for our well-being and survival
4) Humans can best do this by following an Eightfold Path
An Eightfold Path
- Intellectual Humility – Recognize the limits of your understanding and be open to new insights, even if you consider yourself an expert. Recognize your own biases. Embrace the mysteries of the past and uncertainties of the future.
- Intellectual Curiosity – Cultivate a deep desire to seek knowledge and explore reality.
- Intellectual Honesty – Pursue and accept truth with honesty and integrity, even when it may be disadvantageous to yourself, your group, or your cause.
- Intellectual Access - Make collective understanding available to all people. Share critical knowledge openly and ensure access for everyone. Practice transparency.
- Intellectual Prudence -
- Avoid sensationalism or oversimplification.
- Critically evaluate information, verifying facts before accepting them or spreading them.
- Avoid jumping to conclusions or being swayed by misinformation.
- Thoughtfully apply knowledge and consider how it affects others or society.
- Practice responsible environmental stewardship by reducing waste, conserving resources, and supporting sustainable practices.
- Intellectual Tolerance - Accept diversity and differences, understanding that everyone has a unique life experience and perspective.
- Avoid Persuasion, Seek Understanding – Engage in dialogue to understand and establish a shared pool of understanding rather than to persuade, manipulate, or win an argument.
- Promote Empathy and Compassion - we are all human and make mistakes. We should not treat others harshly. It takes enormous energy to be informed on many subjects, and some truths are difficult to accept. “I’m striving to follow the eightfold path to truth. If I stray from the path, I appreciate earnest reminders from others. I recognize that not everyone shares my same conviction.
Example: Raising the minimum wage
The Left and Right will make claims about what will happen if the minimum wage is raised. The Left claims it will give money to the people. The Right claims it will put companies out of business and may make it harder for teenagers or others to enter the job market, among many other unintended consequences. But no one knows the consequences for sure. Let's look at this more openly.
If the minimum wage is raised, some businesses will comply, and others will not. Those who don’t comply may get away with it or face consequences.
Those that comply with it will pay for it out of profits or by raising prices. If they raise prices, they may gain or lose some of a particular customer's business.
If business decreases, the owners can cut costs by reducing their employees' hours, reducing the number of employees, or replacing employees with robots or other sources of automation. They could also find other cost-cutting measures like using cheaper materials, reducing energy use, or finding cheaper suppliers.
If employees leave (forced or voluntarily), they may find a better opportunity, the same, or worse. Some employees may stay enticed by the higher wages and miss out on other opportunities.
When replacing employees who leave, the employer may have an easier or more challenging time finding new employees. The employer may be more or less picky in their selection of future employees. If they are more picky, this could result in someone less qualified not getting the opportunity to get work experience.
If the minimum wage only affects a portion of businesses, it may be more or less challenging for other companies to find qualified workers (after the $20/hour minimum wage for fast food restaurants, my neighbor's company lost employees and ended up moving their manufacturing over the border).
Lower profits from any cause could end an ailing business, resulting in loss of employment for the people generously granted a higher wage. Some of these businesses may have ended regardless of the increased minimum wage, and there is no way of knowing at this point.
How each of the owners, employees, and customers responds is individual and based on that person's life experience and circumstances, and it can greatly differ by location (city, state, country).
The truth isn't necessarily black and white.
Resources
This post was inspired by Thomas Sowell's book Knowledge and Decisions. Specifically, the idea behind using the phrase "Intellectual vision" is from the book.
Intellectual Vision - a central set of premises from which particular positions can be deduced as corollaries . What makes them a coherent vision is the high degree of correlation among the particular conclusions reached among highly disparate subjects. An ideological vision is more than a belief in a principle. It is the belief that that that principle is crucial or overriding, so that other principles or even empirical facts must give way when in conflict with it.
You might call this post an "Intellectual Vision" to improve how ideas and beliefs can be formulated.