Seek Simplicity and Distrust It
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- Category: English
- Date Submitted: 02/22/2010 03:48 AM
- Pages: 6
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Topic
"Seek simplicity, and distrust it"
(Alfred North Whitehead)
Is this always good advice for a knower?
Word Count: 1209
Simplicity is the property, condition, or quality of being simple or un-combined. It often denotes beauty, purity or clarity. Simple things are usually easier to explain and understand than complicated ones. Simplicity can mean freedom from hardship, effort or confusion. It may also refer to a simple living lifestyle. Can also be the basis, or bare foundation to terms of understanding, proving no depth or intricate reasoning.
In the definition above, one aspect of simplicity connotes, that more often than not, we tend to take simplicity as the solution because of the fact that simplicity doesn’t make us go through the travails of the uncomfortable journey of probe because it is difficult and tiring and most humans by nature seek pleasure and comfort while avoiding discomfort and arduous tasks.
But because of this very proclivity, the real truth of the matter escapes us at that time and later might come up through the hard work of somebody else who explores tirelessly to arrive at the real truth. This justification is one aspect and the aspects themselves can be many, nuances can be many, parlances can be several which one way or the other point to validity of Whitehead’s dictum “Seek simplicity and distrust it”.
I agree with the statement and acknowledge the same from the perspective of both a knower as well as a non-knower. The only difference is that the knower will know that adherence to this dictum will yield him or her better results even though he or she might not ultimately arrive at the result. On the other hand, a non-knower will probably not know and yet might get swindled in case of any type of transactions among humans or he might get to know after it is too late which might or might not transform him into a knower. The crux is that this dictum is certainly of huge importance and can be tested from different...
"Seek simplicity, and distrust it"
(Alfred North Whitehead)
Is this always good advice for a knower?
Word Count: 1209
Simplicity is the property, condition, or quality of being simple or un-combined. It often denotes beauty, purity or clarity. Simple things are usually easier to explain and understand than complicated ones. Simplicity can mean freedom from hardship, effort or confusion. It may also refer to a simple living lifestyle. Can also be the basis, or bare foundation to terms of understanding, proving no depth or intricate reasoning.
In the definition above, one aspect of simplicity connotes, that more often than not, we tend to take simplicity as the solution because of the fact that simplicity doesn’t make us go through the travails of the uncomfortable journey of probe because it is difficult and tiring and most humans by nature seek pleasure and comfort while avoiding discomfort and arduous tasks.
But because of this very proclivity, the real truth of the matter escapes us at that time and later might come up through the hard work of somebody else who explores tirelessly to arrive at the real truth. This justification is one aspect and the aspects themselves can be many, nuances can be many, parlances can be several which one way or the other point to validity of Whitehead’s dictum “Seek simplicity and distrust it”.
I agree with the statement and acknowledge the same from the perspective of both a knower as well as a non-knower. The only difference is that the knower will know that adherence to this dictum will yield him or her better results even though he or she might not ultimately arrive at the result. On the other hand, a non-knower will probably not know and yet might get swindled in case of any type of transactions among humans or he might get to know after it is too late which might or might not transform him into a knower. The crux is that this dictum is certainly of huge importance and can be tested from different...