(May 20, 2015 at 4:40 pm)Razzle Wrote: I think the value of anything, including truth, is determined by its effect on well-being. That's what 'value' is - a measurement of how something makes us feel. Usually, knowing the truth about things helps us effectively manipulate the world to promote positive emotional states and reduce negative ones, but occasionally, a particular person believing something false will do that instead.
That can't be right. The value to you might be what best enhances your well-being. But the desire for the truth is also about wanting to live in the real world, to accept life on its own terms. Not all of us would choose to take the pill which allows us to stay asleep to the real world.
I don't say everyone must share my perspective though. Those who place a higher premium on maintaining a pre-selected truth are obviously permitted to do so. I support their right to choose right up to the point where they try to enforce some form of Sharia law, in the USA that will more often be an attempt to impose xtian values in secular matters.
