issue127,最后三天

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TOPIC: ISSUE127 - "Facts are stubborn things. They cannot be altered by our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions."
WORDS: 721
TIME: 00:42:01
DATE: 2009-4-16 22:02:10

According to the speaker, he/she claims that facts are so stubborn that cannot be altered by our wishes, our inclinations or the dictates of our passions. As far as I am concerned, albeit the speaker's statement is not entirely without support from empirical experience, I still cannot absolutely agree with such extreme position because his/her viewpoints to facts are too bigoted and oversimplified.

To begin with, it is fundamentally believed that facts would operate objectively rather than be determined by our minds in most cases. Actually, since human beings are just one species of inhabitants on Earth, those facts on terra can be hardly controlled by them. For one thing, natural phenomenon would never be altered by our minds. Although last century has witnessed miraculous development in the realm of science and technology, those natural phenomena, such as sunrise, sundown, tide and the like, generally operate constantly. Provided that once certain seism is predicted by a nation, people have no choice but wait and prepare for the disastrous results. For another, scientific phenomenon would be rarely changed by human beings. In retrospect, tons of scientific theories are discovered and established gradually, but no one can control such principles according to his/her own intention. Such as three fundamental laws projected by Isaac Newton, which most of articles and substances comply with; the universal gravitation which swept over the world can be hardly eliminated by masses. Therefore, most of facts such as natural phenomenon and scientific principles are truly objective and rarely reedited by people.

Beyond the concession, however, I cannot totally agree with the speaker's statement because it seems overlook that people are still able to change certain facts in numerous aspects. Actually, as the most intelligent species on Earth, human beings are veritably powerful enough to transform certain facts by themselves. On the one hand, people are able to improve themselves to some extent. Thanks to dozens of exercises, training, and studying, people can enhance themselves in the realm of physics, intelligence and emotions. For example, a sizeable number of athletes who participate in Olympic Games always break those World Records and improve their ability continuously. Or those participants in Guinness usually lift those records in quite a lot of aspects. On the other hand, people are able to regulate the whole society by some revolutions or policies. When the government encountered certain severe financial crisis, a series of revolutionary policies must be reenacted to save the country from recession. Franklin Roosevelt, the president of the United States in the early of last century, just executed a handful of effectual reforms so that refresh the whole country after the American Great Recession. Hence, accounting for foregoing successful alternations, human beings might still exert more or less influence on facts.

Finally, perhaps most importantly, empirical experience dedicates that certain objective facts are expressed or recorded subjectively because they are filled with people's passions, values and desires. As a matter of fact, since each kind of fact is observed by individuals, one's own views must interfere its original objectivity. In the first place, many records are combined with people's own values which inevitably alter facts to certain degree. Although a majority of historians try their best to stay neutral and objective, most of historic data are mingled with their own viewpoints. The Histories, a famous historic book which is considered as the first historic documentation in western culture, traditionally contain tons of personal ideas and preference from its author, Herodotus. Secondly, many facts are restricted or distorted by the government and times. Since emperors must sustain the stability of their governing, they had to distort or confine certain facts which seem to threaten the interests of their dynasty. For instance, although heliocentric theory had been already issued by Copernicus, coeval government was unwilling to accept such facts and then strictly ban such theory for a long time. Apparently, those facts of astronomy were fully concealed and altered by human beings. Thus, subjective interference from human beings does exert significant influence on those facts.

To sum up, I concede that natural phenomenon and scientific principle are surely unalterable in most cases, while people still can improve and regulate themselves or even the whole society. In fact, we should reconsider the objectivity of facts more cautiously and modestly, rather than believe in stubborn facts unconditionally.

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