Naw: I inverted that line of thinking deliberately knowing it would raise eyebrows, but it's true. Facts themselves are "theory in the wild" -- i.e. they're determined by a dense scaffolding of assumptions which are rarely examined or understood -- while what we usually think of as theory is of a domesticated kind where you have some explicit grasp of what your assumptions are and try to make them as sparse as possible. "The facts" are typically bewildering and inconsistent and demand a lot of critical judgment to navigate, while any theory worth the name is simple and consistent and requires relatively little refined discrimination to interpret. Theory is cheap, facts are expensive.
What I think drives the opposite notion is that anyone who pays attention can find plenty of instances of people being blinded or misled by a theory. But this is just availability bias -- there are far more instances where people have been blinded or misled by false facts.
High virtue is not virtuous Therefore it has virtue Low virtue never loses virtue Therefore it has no virtue High virtue takes no contrived action And acts without agenda Low virtue takes contrived action And acts with agenda High benevolence takes contrived action And acts without agenda High righteousness takes contrived action And acts with agenda High etiquette takes contrived action And upon encountering no response Uses arms to pull others
Therefore, the Tao is lost, and then virtue Virtue is lost, and then benevolence Benevolence is lost, and then righteousness Righteousness is lost, and then etiquette Those who have etiquette are a thin shell of loyalty and sincerity And the beginning of chaos Those with foreknowledge Are the flowers of the Tao And the beginning of ignorance Therefore the great person: Abides in substance, and does not dwell on the thin shell Abides in the real, and does not dwell on the flower Thus they discard that and take this
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What I think drives the opposite notion is that anyone who pays attention can find plenty of instances of people being blinded or misled by a theory. But this is just availability bias -- there are far more instances where people have been blinded or misled by false facts.
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Therefore it has virtue
Low virtue never loses virtue
Therefore it has no virtue
High virtue takes no contrived action
And acts without agenda
Low virtue takes contrived action
And acts with agenda
High benevolence takes contrived action
And acts without agenda
High righteousness takes contrived action
And acts with agenda
High etiquette takes contrived action
And upon encountering no response
Uses arms to pull others
Therefore, the Tao is lost, and then virtue
Virtue is lost, and then benevolence
Benevolence is lost, and then righteousness
Righteousness is lost, and then etiquette
Those who have etiquette
are a thin shell of loyalty and sincerity
And the beginning of chaos
Those with foreknowledge
Are the flowers of the Tao
And the beginning of ignorance
Therefore the great person:
Abides in substance, and does not dwell on the thin shell
Abides in the real, and does not dwell on the flower
Thus they discard that and take this
-T.T.C. #38
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