The human race is considered the most intelligent of all animals on earth. This assertion means that human beings believe in facts and truth. Truth could be viewed in either a subjective or objective manner. The subjective view of truth is how we believe in something. The objective perspective of truth focuses entirely on what we believe. Kierkegaard believed in the subjective perspective. However, I believe and support the objective perspective. It is what we believe that matters rather than how we believe.
Human beings are rational beings with the ability to find facts whenever they want to know about something. What we believe is more important than how we believe if we are to remain rational beings. Rationality involves believing in something that one has full knowledge about. Knowing what we believe in gives us confidence because there is satisfaction in having facts. We should shun the mentality of subjective truth because, at times, people are sincere but wrong.
What we believe matters more than how we believe because this is the sure way of avoiding dogmatism. When how we believe is given the main focus, we become blind followers of what could not be the truth. In such a scenario, it is possible to mislead people on whatever issue is at hand. People like political and religious leaders would take advantage of such a situation to pursue personal interests. If what we believe in takes center stage, it will be easy to identify people who after exploiting the public.
When what we believe is the main focus, we will be interested in issue based arguments and fact finding. Belief is the basis of behavior hence; we should promote autonomy for every individual through what we believe. People who focus on what to believe are critical thinkers. This enables us to determine what to believe as the truth. Autonomy eliminates manipulation and lies from selfish people whose aim is to exploit.
What we believe makes us analytical of every situation we face before making decisions. If we are to focus on how we believe, we might be sincere but wrong. People should be independent and only seek advice whenever they necessary. What we believe is important because we can analyze every concept and situation to determine the truth. Being analytic and reasoning critical makes people seek what is true or right. As much as we should be sincere, we should also ensure that we do so after analyzing the situation and establishing the truth on our own.
Belief can only be good if the thing we believe in is good. To establish that what we believe in is good, we have to focus on what we believe. Human beings must not be misled into following blindly what they do not know. We should know the good in the thing we believe in and how it can benefit us. That is what autonomous thinkers should do; believe facts and not hearsay from leaders or colleagues.
Even though how we believe is helpful, kind and sensible, we have to focus on what we believe. Every person in the world has a view and a belief in something; be it religion, science or atheism. What should matter to us should be what we believe because of several reasons. What we believe makes us autonomous thinkers, critical, analytical and decisive. What we believe influences our behavior, determines what is right and true, and makes us independent of other people’s thoughts.
Works Cited
Burton, Rulon T. We Believe: Doctrine and Principles of the Church of Latter-day Saints. New York: Tabernacle Books, Inc, 2004.
Jackson, Pete. It doesn't matter what I believe as long as I'm sincere. 2011. 16 March 2013
Shermer, Michael. How We Believe: The Search for God in an Age of Science. illustrated, revised. London: Henry Holt and Company, 2000.
