Principles

// November 29th, 2011 // Free Software, Project Mayhem

The Principles Meme

This morning I read the following in a blog entry: “I applaud him for sticking to his principles, and not compromising“. The person who wrote it didn’t even agree with the person he was referring too, and yet he was congratulating him for sticking to his principles. I’ve seen a bunch of similar statements recently. There’s also a similar, more self-congratulating meme where people are very proud that they are unwaveringly sticking to their principles no matter what.

I’m not sure where this comes from, perhaps it stems from religious roots? Perhaps from people who are afraid to admit that they are flawed in any way? Perhaps they have some agenda that they want to push?

What if no one ever compromised on their principles? What if, in South Africa during the Apartheid years no white person were willing to consider that anyone with a different skin colour could be considered an equal? What if people could never see women as equals and they could never get voting rights or other equal rights? There are many, many more concepts in the past that were rooted as moral principles and with the hindsight we have now, we can see that they were clearly wrong. Sticking to those principles would have been harmful. The sad thing is that today still, many concepts in society is flawed. So why do we choose to applaud people who are inflexible, unscientific and in my opinion, irrational?

The Scientists

I applaud the scientist types, the ones who are able to look at new information or evidence and are able to take a step back and say “Hey, maybe I should re-think this!”. I respect those who are willing to say “Perhaps I was wrong” and share they’re experiences with others to get wider feedback rather than the person who will relentlessly defend their position, typically using some absolutes to try to prove their point.

If you’re not ever willing to compromise or re-evaluate based on facts or new information, then I don’t care much for anything you have to say.
SociBook del.icio.us Digg Facebook Google Yahoo Buzz StumbleUpon

9 Responses to “Principles”

  1. Benjamin Kerensa says:
    29 November 2011 at 11:36

    I’m assuming this was in regards to the Burger as a Service post? ;)

  2. jonathan says:
    29 November 2011 at 11:44

    In part, yes :)

  3. Bob says:
    29 November 2011 at 12:25

    Doesn’t really depend on the nature/value of the principles? I would assume the negative view you take regarding the examples you cite derive from certain principles themselves (equality, justice, fairness, kindness, truth?) that you hold dear. It would not be too much to assume that these are principles you’re not willing to compromise on, nor would we necessarily respect the one willing to do so. The principle isn’t usually the political view or the belief, the principle is what informs that view. Whatever so-called “principles” an individual might claim in defending their positions like in your examples, will invariably unravel under scrutiny. It is, however, possible for individuals to share principles and yet disagree on points of contact within the culture. The scientist who values truth will consider changing his position when new data is presented him, but that does not mean he compromised his principles. Of course, I’m probably just over-thinking it too much.

  4. Pascal says:
    29 November 2011 at 12:48

    I agree with you when you say that sticking to so-called moral principles can lead to inflexibility. But there is the other side of the coin where lack of principles lead to pure opportunism. I think we have to stick only to those principles which, in a deduction, don’t lead to a contradiction.

  5. Martin Owens says:
    29 November 2011 at 13:54

    I disagree. A principle is something deeper than what you do, or how you do it. The principles that kept apartheid and inequalities were drawn from the Aristotelian view of every person in his god given place. What that place might be was open to debate, so people could debate the principle in execution without having to give them up.

    This is why the declaration of independence talks of inalienable rights for all and proceeds from those principles to lay down what they think these principles mean and why the King should be as a traitor. This is why, rather than make the white man an animal cast to solve slavery, it was easier to elevate the black man to god given equality and show the racist acts as against ant man’s godly principles. For those that could argue it adroitly.

    Sometimes it’s that a person mistakes a strong view or a fundamentalist position as a principle. But really principles are far more malleable in their execution and allow us to see where we have go against them and accept and address the damage that we do by doing the practical thing.

    The frustrating thinking is the modern view is that principles are inconvenient and should be removed. As if ignoring our imperfections and compromises was the key to perfection.

  6. David Schmitt says:
    29 November 2011 at 16:24

    I hope you’ll stick to your scientific principles!

  7. jonathan says:
    29 November 2011 at 21:44

    http://amultiverse.com/2011/11/29/on-the-origin-of-horses/

  8. JaneF says:
    30 November 2011 at 11:48

    I wholeheartedly agree with what you have said… principles are good, blind unwavering principles are narrow minded and dangerous.

  9. DarrenM says:
    30 November 2011 at 17:04

    Does anyone ever actually use that phrase in the manner that you’re suggesting? Praising someone for sticking to their principles usually happens when that person is under attack for holding an unpopular but perfectly valid opinion (which is the case in the Burger as Service post), not when they’re sticking to an opinion despite having been proven incorrect (which is not).

    Offtopic: what was the purpose of the science-religion dichotomy that you set up?

Leave a Reply