Originality And Truth

There are those who deny the existence of intellectual originality, and then there are those who treat the pursuit of truth as trivial unless original discovery is involved.  Both sets of people are deluded by their fallacies and errors.  While intellectual originality is surprisingly simple to achieve once one understands reason and the intellectual inadequacies of most people, truth's importance does not hinge on originality.  However, the inverse is true: originality's importance hinges on the importance of truth.

Of course, merely rediscovering the same truths that others have already identified through one's own personal reflections and deductions, and not because of faith or consensus, is a manifestation of originality already, for reaching even basic conclusions on one's own means one is not infected by groupthink.  People who pretend like originality, autonomous reasoning, and new discoveries are impossible demonstrate their unintelligence.  There can only be a finite number of truths, many of which have already been uncovered, but I have already found many that historical philosophers and theologians largely or wholly neglected [1].

What matters most, nevertheless, is not that one discovers a truth previously unknown to humanity.  While this may be fulfilling, doable (it is certainly doable, despite the claims of the ignorant), and exciting, it is more important to be correct than to be original.  If a truth has been affirmed by another person, then reaffirming that truth is the duty of subsequent thinkers.  Originality is only valuable when it points to truth, but truth can be valuable even when completely separate from originality.

As my blog regularly evidences, there are many miscellaneous logical, epistemological, metaphysical, and theological truths that have gone unspoken throughout history and that are scarcely known even in the present day.  Still, these truths derive their significance from a source other than originality.  Originality is certainly possible [2], but it is secondary, at best, to truth--though if you search for truth, you will very likely find originality as well!


[1].  See here:
  A.  https://thechristianrationalist.blogspot.com/2018/07/unique-discoveries-part-1.html
  B.  https://thechristianrationalist.blogspot.com/2018/07/unique-discoveries-part-two.html

[2].  https://thechristianrationalist.blogspot.com/2018/07/intellectual-originality.html