Serendip is an independent site partnering with faculty at multiple colleges and universities around the world. Happy exploring!

Reply to comment

xhan's picture

"stick with what you know"

 

I think that being able to accept that our world is constantly changing, growing, and expanding, is a feat that individuals constantly strive to achieve.  I think that humans innately desire to remain at ‘homeostasis” (the ability or tendency of an individual to maintain a stable, constant condition) and this concept can be applied to an individual’s outlook on life.  I think that this tendency allows us to look for certain situations that are in agreement with our pre-conceived notions and limits are ability to understand those that are unknown, and unfamiliar.  I think that this “exploration of the unknown” requires a conscious effort to expose ourselves to different beliefs and ideas, although even then, we will still struggle to refrain from letting our opinions affect our views of the previously “unexplored” and “unknown”.  As biologists, scientists, psychologists, anthropologists, and human beings, I think it is important that we examine different perspectives, regardless of whether we chose to believe in these perspectives or not.
This can help us answer questions as to why and how we think the way we do(show how we arrived at our conclusions and our ways of looking at situation). I do not think that we need to be able to live with multiple perspectives, but I think that we should be able to recognize that people may have legitimate reasons for subscribing to a certain notion, belief, religion, etc. I think that an individuals’ background, culture, and environment really determines what they are exposed to and thus these influences and experiences shape the beliefs that they have. These beliefs may conflict with that of others, but I think unless we understand the context to which individuals arrive at their beliefs, we have a very limited view of the way the world works.

 

Reply

To prevent automated spam submissions leave this field empty.
11 + 5 =
Solve this simple math problem and enter the result. E.g. for 1+3, enter 4.