After recent discussion with some people, it has come to
light that people don't seem to understand presuppositions. This becomes an issue when in a discussion
with somebody, when sharing a view, or in a debate. So because of this I decided it would be good
to write a brief article about presuppositions.
What is a presupposition?
It is to pre-suppose a certain
idea to be true (or more technically, an implicit assumption). It's not a bad thing, and often times not a
conscious thing, but it can be a hindrance when trying to share with
others. A presupposition can lead to a
belief that you suppose to be fact, but in reality it is just a
belief. We could even call them simple beliefs or basic assumptions. With any
discussion there needs to be some agreement otherwise there can't
even be a discussion. (Often times in
debates I feel like no progress is made because there are too many
presuppositions involved that one party takes for granted while the other party
tries to expose them.)
Alright, so that explains the essence of them, but let me
provide an example. When somebody says
something like, “Well I was there and I saw it, so I do know.” This simple statement assumes a lot.
It presupposes there is such a thing as knowing.
It presupposes perception can be trusted.
It presupposes that you have a mind.
It presupposes that there is reality.
It presupposes that the whole world is not in your head.
You could keep listing out a bunch of
presuppositions for this one statement.
As you can see, a simple statement ASSUMES
A LOT. Now, people might say, “Well, you have to assume those things
otherwise you're just unreasonable.”
But that statement, in itself, assumes - it assumes there is something that is reason
(or rational might be a better word) and it assumes we all share it. This doesn't make the statements above any
less true, it just shows we have to assume certain things in our
communication. We might not even
realize we are assuming these things.
The other important note is that even though we find most of these
statements true by default, some philosophers or want-to-be philosophers don't
find all the above statements true. So even though we assume that things are basic and accepted, it doesn't mean we are correct in that assumption - some people do not accept these basic assumptions. I truly
believe the people opposed are wasting their time because at some point you
have to assume something in order to communicate with others, but nevertheless I need to be aware of the person's presuppositions in order to effectively communicate with them. Something like solipsism makes it impossible
to progress a conversation, so knowing the person is a solipsist would save you a massive headache later.
Nevertheless the point remains that we assume so much when
we make statements that sometimes it is our presuppositions that are actually
blocking discussion. A religious person
and an atheist cannot debate science unless they agree on the presuppositions
involved. Without such agreement, an
argument can't even begin to develop because people will just keep expressing
beliefs and never realize the other person is disagreeing because they
don't even agree with the things being presupposed.
This topic comes up because of a recent debate I had. To the other individual I was simply playing
games because I kept pointing out that he was simply stating a belief, not a
fact. Now, the point isn't about him,
but that it completely blocked communication because an argument could not even be
made because there was no agreement on the presuppositions. Rather than produce a fruitful debate where
people can learn, it ends up going nowhere because people don't realize how
much they assume about their position. I
can honestly say most debates make no
progress and run in circles because of a lack of understanding of what each
person assumes to be true when they begin.
Understanding presuppositions is really simple. Seeing what somebody is assuming when a statement is made, doesn't always seem to be. I find that in life, work, or debate people
often don't understand the weight carried by simple statements.
