Reality and our experience of it are rich and complex. How do we make sense of it? How do we find meaning in life, God, and science? Where do we start?
To explore such questions I find it helpful to consider four different dimensions: experience, tradition, reason, and transcendence. I have drawn inspiration from the Wesley quadrilateral in theology, but stress that I consider a broader application and perspective.
This quadrilateral is both descriptive and prescriptive. I believe it provides a good description of the different dimensions that people do use to make sense of things, whether science, theology, or ethics, even if they are not explicitly aware of what they are doing. People place different values and emphasis on each of the four dimensions, but they may all be present in their discussions. I also think the quadrilateral is also prescriptive. For a broad range of topics, considering these four different dimensions is a good way to proceed, particularly when explicitly stating how one employs and prioritises each of the different dimensions.
In this post, I briefly explain what I mean by each of the four dimensions and the strengths and weaknesses of each. The four dimensions are complementary. A strength of each dimension is that it can compensate for the weaknesses of some of the other dimensions. On the other hand, the four dimensions are not independent of one another.
Experience
In some sense, as individuals, this is all each of us has. We each have a unique personal history: family, education, employment, travel, church, and personal relationships. Associated with our history are experiences of joy, pain, confusion, insight, success, failure, and disappointment. Experience includes books we have read, movies we have seen, and music we have listened to. These experiences shape us: who we are, what we believe, and what we value. The influence of experience plays out at every level: individual, family, community, institution, and nation. Experience is not determinative but it is influential, perhaps more than we might like to acknowledge. Experience influences the relative priority we place on reason, tradition, transcendence, and experience!
A philosophical perspective that puts the highest priority on elements of experience is empiricism. We should only believe to be real what we can experience through sensation (sight, touch, hearing, smell) and measurement.
Experience is central to modern science. Theories are tested by experiments and independent observations (experiments) by different groups have to agree. Experience is validated by others having the same experience.
In contrast to empiricism, romanticism was a movement in the eighteenth century that put a different emphasis on experience, valuing intense emotions, individualism, nature, intuition, inspiration, and subjectivity.
Strengths. Experience can help us engage with reality, tempering fantasy and wishful thinking. Experience can expose us to a diverse range of perspectives, including the life experience of others. In some sense, this engagement with others enables us to go beyond the limitations of our own individual experiences, abilities, personalities, and perspectives.
Weaknesses. Our own experience is finite and limited, particularly relative to all of humanity and all of history. Our experience is subjective and may not be accurate. For example, two individuals may observe the same event but have contradictory perspectives on what actually happened. Optical illusions, such as that shown below, show that even simple observations can be wrong. Experiences do not stand alone or speak for themselves but need to be interpreted. Any interpretation will involve reason, tradition, and likely transcendence.
In the picture above is the vertical line longer, shorter, or the same length in the left or right panel?
Reason
Reason is an intellectual activity. It means thinking and writing down arguments about what we think is true and why we think it is true. The essential form of a rational argument has two components. First, a set of assumptions (axioms) that are considered "reasonable" (e.g., because they are based on observations or a principle that every "reasonable" person can agree on) are stated. Then one investigates the conclusions that follow from these assumptions, using rules of logic. Reason is central to science, and plays the greatest role in the natural sciences through theories that can be formulated mathematically.
A philosophical perspective that puts the highest priority on reason is rationalism. Truth can only be found by rational argument. This was the way that ancient Greeks did science. They discounted the need to do experiments, deeming that common sense observations about nature were adequate.
Strengths. Careful reasoning can expose inconsistencies in arguments or lead to conclusions that we might not expect. Clearly stating assumptions can clarify the basis of a "rational" truth claim. Mathematics in the natural sciences has been incredibly powerful and successful. Theories such as classical mechanics, relativity, quantum theory, and electromagnetism, are based on just a few assumptions and mathematical equations. Yet, using rules of mathematical logic one can describe diverse phenomena quantitatively and make specific predictions about the outcome of experiments.
Weaknesses. Reason is only useful and reliable if the validity of the assumptions made in an argument has a strong justification. Assumptions that may be "reasonable" or "self-evident" to one individual may not be to another. The ancient Greeks were wrong about science, believing things about nature that they thought were "common sense", but turned out to be false. In some sense, at some point in the development of an argument, it is necessary to just take some assumptions on "faith." Reason is sometimes claimed to be pre-eminent in contexts that are debatable. For issues that are predominantly emotional, relational, or artistic, reason may be of marginal relevance or unhelpful.
Tradition
Tradition is all about the past. There are traditions that relate to many different spheres of life, including culture, religion, science, philosophy, morality, and government. A tradition is a framework, inherited from the past, that claims authority about what is true and the way that things should be done. In the context of moral philosophy, Alasdair MacIntyre, states "A tradition is an argument extended through time in which certain fundamental agreements are defined and redefined" by internal and external debates. He claimed, "no way of conducting rational enquiry from a standpoint independent of the particularities of any transition has been discovered and that there is good reason to believe that there is no such way". In different words, reason cannot be separated from tradition.
Traditions are embodied in institutions, such as universities, governments, and religious denominations. Education in a particular subject involves learning a particular tradition.
Culture is an example of tradition. Culture is "the way we do things around here." Culture consists of the ideas, knowledge, beliefs, values, skills, and attitudes, that shape the behaviour of a community.
Strengths. Subjects such as philosophy, theology, and science have developed over centuries. Traditions within them are the accumulation of the knowledge, wisdom and insight gained from all hard work. It is efficient to make use of a tradition. In fact, it is unrealistic to jettison all tradition and claim that in the present one can simply start from scratch and ignore the past. Traditions provide stability, predictability, and a community with shared values, assumptions, and ways of doing things. Traditions can temper some of the foolishness associated with new fashions.
Weaknesses. Traditions can be resistant to the positive change that can come through new ideas, discoveries, and new methods. Traditions can be resistant to adapting to new and different contexts. Traditions tend to leave authority and power with an older generation, who may have a vested interest in things not changing. This is how tradition may stifle the creativity and energy of youth. Max Planck, the founder of quantum physics, stated
A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it ...
Science proceeds one funeral at a time!
Transcendence
The transcendentals are truth, beauty, and goodness. Transcendence is that which goes beyond the categories of being. In the metaphysics of Immanuel Kant, the transcendent is that which lies beyond our ability to know. In theology, transcendence refers to aspects of God that are independent of the physical universe. Here, I use transcendence to mean that which is beyond reason, experiment, or the content of a tradition. I would include experiences that aim to access truth and aspects of reality through intuition, the subconscious, or mysticism. Some might claim that transcendence has no role in science, and even goes against the whole spirit of science. However, there are many stories of scientists who made important discoveries that had their origin in dreams, visions, perceptions of beauty, and "flashes of insight."
Peter Berger argued that there are five aspects of human experience that are inexplicable apart from a transcendent reality. His "signals of transcendence" are the "human propensity to believe that the world is ordered in a trustworthy manner, the capacity to play, the capacity to hope in the face of death, the conviction that some things are just wrong and must be condemned, and the capacity to laugh."
Strengths. Transcendence provides a way to describe the ineffable elements of reality and knowledge that induce mystery, awe, wonder, and paradox. It provides room and a vocabulary for that which goes beyond reason, experiment, and tradition. It allows for the possibility of something more than the material.
Weaknesses. Transcendence and its domain of relevance are hard to define and to constrain. Invoking it may be an escape from the hard work needed to engage seriously with reason, experiment, and tradition. It may be invoked in order to engage in fantasies.
In conclusion, the four dimensions of experience, reason, tradition, and transcendence provide a helpful framework to describe and understand how different people grapple with reality. Although they complement one another they are also inter-related.
