Sunday, January 30, 2011

Everything is relative, even this theory.

This is my blog for English 436: Major Critical Theories.

During our first lecture we were asked to consider what our "theory" is. Although most of the class seemed unsure what was meant by this question, some of managed to jot down a few ideas. I personally wrote that my theory was that everything is relative. A person can have a theory on any given thing in this world, and chances are it will not be infallible in some way. Perhaps someone has a theory or personal belief on anything regarding murder. One might ask, "Is murder always wrong?" and this person may reply with a yes, but then come to find that there are some situations in which it isn't entirely wrong. These would be extreme situations, sure, but they'd still apply.

I chose this "theory" simply because I dislike having an unchanging, non-developing view of the world. I feel that if I choose to say that one single idea is absolutely true then I'm not allowing myself to be flexible. I am narrowing my ability to be open-minded about any given thing. In general I think it's a good idea for people to discuss or consider anything with the notion that what their initial beliefs are could be proven to be incorrect at any moment.

This is not to say that I think no one should ever stay true to their personal beliefs or be loyal to their way of thinking, I just think that everyone should be their own personal watch dog; that they should police their own thoughts by looking for instances in which they're being obtuse or closed-minded. If members of our political system thought this way, for example, we might get a lot more done much more quickly. Much of this world's problems come from people refusing to be swayed from their personal beliefs even when those beliefs are damaging others around them. Even those who have great belief systems can still fall under the category of someone who is closed-minded if they are the type to never reconsider anything at all. It makes them bad candidates for attempts at open discussions in our political system or in anything else in our world.

So my theory is that everything is relative, and it gives me more freedom to analyze things as they're presented to me, case-by-case. It keeps me from shutting myself off from open discussion, and it keeps others from being discouraged when discussing things with me. No one can ever talk about anything after all if you have on person refusing to listen and another person refusing to speak. I think it's a way many people should think, although of course I could be completely wrong in that idea.