The boggle factor
I’d like to applaud Simon Young for his brave piece admitting that much forteana he doesn’t believe in is based not on rational enquiry but on feeling and preference and instinct [ FT419:25]. Over the years I have been guilty, in arguments with strangers and acquaintances, of presenting some of my own beliefs for and against a thing as founded on rational evidence, when really I am far more likely to be going with my gut. This isn’t to say I don’t examine the evidence, or try to find a way to construct a coherent and solid support for an opinion; and there’s only so far I’ll walk round somebody else’s data, tutting and looking for a loophole, before I admit its solidity. But I’m not a reasoning machine, and my opinions are born from instinct, not reason.
I have always considered instinct a reliable tool, made up as it is of accrued experience, and it’s so much quicker than reason, and handier in life generally. By its nature, much forteana floats outside the dense evidence field our ordinary lives inhabit, and perhaps neither reason nor instinct, or a combination of the two, are good guides, but it would be nice if we could all drop the pretence we’re Sherlock Holmes. I doubt very much a real Sherlock, building everything on solid data, could survive or navigate an ordinary life.
I would be very glad to see the back of people underestimating the humanity of others by rolling out pop psychology explanations for their beliefs. I find myself on the opposite side of Mr Young on almost every count he listed, but I don’t think I have any hope of understanding his emotional reasons for disbelief simply by reading his column, any more than he could understand my emotional reasons for belief by reading this letter.
What matters in a discussion is that a person is open to examination of the possibilities, and that they recognise the roots of their own opinions, and when they are being honest and fair with themselves and others. I think it’s particularly important to recognise that a person can, having been just as scrupulous about evidence as oneself, hold an opposing opinion.
Dean Teasdale
Gateshead, Tyne & Wear