Searching for Truth

my book on Piaget.

Bringuier – I wonder if what you attack in philosophy isn’t what is called metaphysics?

Piaget – Yes, of course …

Bringuier – But isn’t metaphysics, like the religious turn of mind or mysticism, a sign of one’s longing for unity? That’s what I meant about philosophy. One can’t turn up one’s nose at it too quickly, because the need exists. People have a need for unity.

Piaget – But, to me, the search for unity is much more substantial than the affirmation of unity; the need and the search, and the idea that one is working at it …

So anyone can say they have the truth, that they accept that Jesus is their savior or Mohammed is the last prophet. That’s easy. It seems like an insurance policy. But of course, it isn’t. Perhaps the gods reward those who use their minds, proportioning their assent to the evidence. Maybe the gods reject those who blindly accept things on faith alone, defaulting on the use of their reason. There is no sure bet.

So it’s easy to accept the first ideas you’re taught and be done with it. What’s hard and noble and humble is to keep searching and growing and changing. The search for truth is so much nobler than simply affirming the first ideas you encountered.