Things that are true can nonetheless have terrible arguments for them. People can believe true things for untrue reasons.
For example, the sun rises in the east. This is true, but it’s not true because “that’s where Apollo lives.” If someone said that, then they’d be wrong even though the sun does, in fact, rise in the east.
So why does it matter? There are two big reasons to get the “why” right even if you have the correct end answer anyway:
- Replication. If you understand that the sun rises in the east because of the rotation of the Earth, then you can start to piece together other information that might be helpful in areas like navigation. Expanding your knowledge to other spheres requires you understand the mechanism, not just the result.
- Repair. Let’s say you wake up tomorrow with the sunrise and check your compass only to discover that the sun is rising in the west. If you think Apollo directs the sunrise, you might start sacrificing goats in an attempt to appease an angry deity. If you understand the actual mechanism, then you’ll probably just fix or replace your faulty compass.
Don’t accept bad arguments – especially for true things, and especially from yourself.
