Spontaneous Convictions

Facts of everyday experience, such as those mentioned in the previous article, Facts and Knowledge, could be multiplied indefinitely. The ordinary man has a spontaneous and unshakable conviction that they are genuinely true. No amount of argument could convince him that his knowledge is not valid. He may not be very clear in his own mind about the scientific and philosophic grounds and proofs for this conviction, but of the reality of the world and of the truth of the facts he entertains not the slightest doubt. His common sense tells him that he is right. Every moment of his life, from the cradle to the grave, confirms his convictions that the world outside and around him is as he experiences it to be and that his knowledge of it is a correct insight into its reality. The whole substance of these convictions can be summed up in this: the world is objectively real and man has a genuine knowledge of it as it is.

 

They are not forced convictions, accepted by the mind against its better judgment; rather, they are spontaneous for the very reason that they are the natural and obvious interpretations of the things and happenings in which man lives, and all together they form a system of knowledge which agrees with the demands of his rational nature. Man lives with and by and in these convictions, and these convictions are found by daily experience to be in accord with the facts as he knows them. Hence, he never questions their truth and validity; to him they are self-understood and self-demonstrative, and he feels perfectly safe in their possession.

 

This, of course, is strong presumptive evidence in their favor. If man's whole life can be regulated by them, in a practical as well as in a rational manner, then it is a prima facie proof that he is right in his assumptions. It would, then, seem superfluous for the scientist and philosopher to investigate the grounds and reasons of these spontaneous convictions. But such is not the nature of the human mind in its insatiable desire for deeper and more extensive knowledge. Man's mind simply cannot rest satisfied with the obvious and transparent explanation of facts. The urge for knowledge prompts him to investigate the foundations, the ultimate grounds and reasons, the 'how' and 'why' of these spontaneous convictions.