The idea of today s English class intrigued John. Philosophy itself inherently interested him, and today his class would debate topics from the book they had recently read, Sophie s World. He figured he knew the arguments the class would make, and thus had recently created his own philosophical system, observationalism as he called it, which he would debut for the class.
John arrived at school early, not wanting to miss even a minute of class. He looked up at the morning sun for just a moment as he entered the school at the south end. Perhaps when the class ends, people won t think they know where it came from, he thought hopefully, observing the burning orb of gasses.
He let out a sigh as he entered the room, the wise ones had already clustered together. He felt a chill, and one not just from the over-worked air conditioner as he looked over at the gathered sheep. Suddenly, he felt weary about voicing his opinion in the face of the inevitable heckling the sheep would give him.
This is just going to be a bash-God-fest, John heard the first female sheep, Rebekah, say. That s what these things always become.
As she said that, another group of sheep entered. This group was more subversive, as according to their own strictly followed tenets, they were not sheep, but in fact, freethinkers. John had to chuckle at their own arrogance as they discussed the vast and obvious extent of their correctness.
This is just going to be another praise-God-fest, Eric, a sheep of the highest order, said. Why don t I just go home, and give praise to my computer? At least it exists!
The second group laughed at the witty quip, John just shook his head and let out another despairing sigh. Finally, and just before class began, the third group of sheep entered. John found he had the most in common with this group, yet he also abhorred them the most too. As although they admittedly knew nothing, their ignorance prevented them from wanting to know.
This is such bullshit, the first to enter, Cam, said. All this philosophy means nothing to me. It won t get me a job, or pay the bills.
Everyone took their seats as the bell sounded, and eventually, Mr. Krik, the class s teacher, arrived. John gave a final glance around the room, the sheep had all gathered in the pen, now the shearing could begin.
Alright, everyone calm down. I know the weekend was hard on you, but don t worry, the best years of your life are nearly over, Mr. Krik said in his usual fashion. I know you all read this wonderful, wonderful book. So let s dive in. I don t want to hear about Aristotle or Socrates today, we ve heard enough about them in your seminars and ovulars on this book. I want to hear your truth. Got it? Good, let s begin. At some point, something had to come from nothing, so when was it?
How can you know? Was anybody here around when time began, or when the universe was created, or whatever you believe in? No, I certainly think not, John said quickly, not wanting to give any of the unofficial groups an advantage here.
Well then how can you know the big bang happened either? Rebekah pointed out, as John anticipated she would.
Who said I believed in the big bang? John retorted. Perhaps there was only one big bang, perhaps there were and will be infinite, perhaps there were none. I don t know.
The class looked at John, obviously puzzled by his statement. Rarely did someone say they believed in neither creationism, or any scientific explanation. The sheep of the second group began to protest, citing the infallibility of science, but John interrupted them.
Only a few hundred years ago, scientists thought the sun orbited around the Earth. Now they know better, of course. Why do you think that is though? Perhaps I can enlighten you, because, now they can properly observe the movement of planets. Who s to say, though, that they have the origin of our universe figured out? Especially when they cannot observe the entire universe. A basic scientific principle is that one cannot properly analyze a system while within it, and yet they hope to know what happen billions of years ago in a system they exist in? Seems rather foolish to me to be so certain.
So just how do you think we got here? Eric asked John. Certainly you must have an explanation.
Well I have my suspicions about it. I figure that the celestial bodies only extend so far, but the space they could occupy is infinite, I also figure that the big bang happened, will happen again, and has happened before. All this is irrelevant, though, as I am a long way from certain about any of this. Everyone will have suspicions, it s human nature, but because we cannot observe it, for all intensive purposes we cannot be certain.
Well then just what can we be certain of? Mr. Krik asked.
Well I am not going to sound like Hume or Sartre and say we can be certain of nothing, there are some things we can rely on. Sure, we can never test anything infinite times, but based on observational evidence we can, for all intensive purposes be certain of a good deal. Take gravity for instance, if I drop my textbook, I know that based on countless, albeit finite, experiments, it will fall towards the ground. We can observe gravity all around us.
So it s entirely based on observation then? Mr. Krik put in.
I know it sounds unimaginative, but we know very little about a good deal of things, and should reserve our ultimate judgment until we can observe them.
What are some other examples then? Rebekah came back with.
There are plenty, evolution or the creation of life by a higher power, for instance.
Well we know about that, Rebekah said. God created the world and everything on it in six days, on the seventh he rested. Is it that hard to get? And besides, your theory of evolution has some pretty big holes in it.
I m terribly sorry, perhaps you missed what I said earlier about the big bang, John said, somewhat annoyed. It went along the lines of, you weren t there! Sure, your venerable tome can tell you a good many things, but there aren t too many ways to verify them. And Eric, let s face it, she s right, evolution is full of holes. It does not give details on how any one given species can mutate into a totally different species, let alone a different phylum without losing it s ability to reproduce. Or how they find a mate that just happened to mutate at the exact same time to the exact same new species.
John s attack on Rebekah s faith had left her visibly disturbed, Eric too, looked upset. Obviously John s ideas had caught them, and their groups, unprepared. Mr. Krik, however, looked at John inquisitively, clearly wanting to hear more.
I guess I should go over it more in depth with you guys then, John said, grabbing at the opportunity to expound his ideas. I call it the theory of observationalism, which states that although we can never be absolutely certain of any given thing, for all intensive purposes we can be certain of things that are observable. As I said before, everyone will have a suspicion or a bias towards a given slant of an idea, but if we cannot observe it, we cannot be reasonably sure of it. I know you don t want to hear about Socrates today, but this theory sort of borrows from his old statement about the only thing he knew, is that he knew nothing. About a great many things, observationalism tends to agree. Take the problem of free will for instance. C. S. Lewis argued that without God we cannot have free will, because only God could grant us the ability to rise above the natural chemical and biological laws that would force us to follow laws of nature our whole lives. On the other hand, if God created the universe and everything in it, then he created who we are and what we will do. There is no way to know if we have free will or are bound to a destiny, as neither can be observed. And on that note, is there a God, or gods, or a greater power which is undefinable? Or maybe there is no god, maybe Nietzsche and Zarathustra were right and God is dead. Anyone who thinks they can tell you the answer is probably a fool, or a liar. How about love? Is it just chemicals and hormones? Or is it something magical and mystical? I suspect it s just another bodily function, as natural as birth, breathing, eating and dying; but how can we truly know anything about it? Then there is the afterlife. There are a thousand and one religions out there that want you to believe in their s, yet aside from venerable tomes, we have no proof, let alone observable of any of them. According to them if you just unquestioningly believe, you're saved and Bob's your uncle. When a person dies, though, all we can observe is that the body begins to decay as the cells die and do not regrow. Maybe this world is all we have, or maybe there is some existence beyond this one, but how can we possibly know with any reasonable chance of being right? Plenty of other examples exist too, like how did we acquire human nature? What we do know for certain, as it is observable, that we are all here, and that we are all in this together. We all think, therefore we all are. I guess we all need to learn to get along better, and stop blowing up World Trade Centers and Jenin refugee camps. I just want you all to use your senses, if someone is telling you something, and they can t show it to you, you had best beware. Not just seeing, but observing is believing.
As his pontificating concluded, the class looked at John stunned. He knew he hadn t convinced many of them, he did not mind though, he doubted he ever could. Sheep understood little, after all. Cam s group looked the most confused, the others had at least comprehended some of it. If nothing else, he had managed to get it off his chest, that made him feel slightly better. Perhaps even Mr. Krik had understood a little, that would satisfy John. Right then, though, the bell rang, and everyone stood up and departed, as did John, he had to go solve for x.