Seek simplicity and distrust it. Is this always a good advice for a knower?

--
Alfred North Whitehead









Simplicity is the quality of being easily understood by the majority and it requires
the least amount of explanation to educate someone else of the particular idea or
knowledge. Simplicity can be sought after observing complex or intricate patterns and
deducing a generalization from the observation. For a knower, whose ultimate goal is the
gain the maximum amount of knowledge, simplicity should be sought to gain better
understanding of the idea, but one should be aware that there can be some exceptions to
the generalization. After discovering the exceptions to the rule, one should try to
understand weather he/she should completely disapprove of the simplification or approve
some portions or believe it to a certain extent and then distrust it. Whiteheads quotation
has some ambiguities associated with it because it does not state whether one should
completely or partially distrust simplicity. A knower should seek simplification and
according to the situation should they distrust it and also be aware of the extent that one
distrusts simplicity -- such as fully, partially or not at all.
This quotation can be approached in a mathematical way by looking at a simple
division problem. In mathematics classes students are encouraged to leave their answer in
the simplest form because of its clarity. If John was given four slices of pizza out of a
total of eight slices, any person with the basic knowledge of math can see that John was
given half of the pizza. If this is told to another person they can comprehend this situation
as John was given half of the pizza, but the problem arises when one tries to incorporate
the fact that John was given a four of the eight slices. This quote holds true in this
mathematical situation because even though a person sought to simplify the situation by
stating that John was given half of the pizza, a knower should be aware of the fact that
there were a total of eight slices and John was given four as shown mathematically as 4/8,
not a half which is commonly interpreted as 1/2. John was not given one of the possible
two portions, but in reality four out the eight portions. In this case one can see that
simplification was sought, but one should distrust because it does not always show the
true picture of the situation.
Simplicity is when one sees the general picture of the situation, even though
majority of the parts of the simplifications adheres to the larger image projected, a
knower should be aware that some portions of the larger image are not compatible with
the larger image. This happened to me personally in math class where I simplified the
expression (x-1)(x+2)/(x+2) into (x-1). Thought both expressions are equal because of
simplification, one can easily grasp that in reality there are not the same because in the
latter simplified expression, one can substitute any real number into x, but in the first
expression all real number, other than negative two can be substituted because one cannot
divide by zero. Thus, Whiteheads quote holds true to seek simplification for clarification
purposes, but there could be something complicated associated with the simple idea that
is not always true. One distrusts something that is not always true.
In literature one of the biggest mistakes that someone can make is to look for
simplicity. Trends in literature are constantly changing because what can be true for one
time period is not true the other. In the time of Homer, without the help of gods the
primary character Odysseus would not have been able to come to his homeland. He
constantly asks the gods to help him come back home to Ithaca and gods such as Athena
and Poseidon play an active role in the story. In today's literature (other than religious
works) human characters play the main role and they sometimes ask gods for help, but
gods in todays literature do not have any active roles. From this one can see that the
quotation is upheld where one should seek simplicity to understand the basic story of the
Odyssey and its major themes, but one should also be aware that even though the major
interpretations made are correct for that certain time period, but over time these ideas
evolve. One can clearly see that simplicity should be sought for a certain time period, but
over the long-run these ideas change. On the whole Whiteheads quote is partially correct
here because during the time of Homer, gods did play major roles in literature, so it
would not be fully incorrect to simplify this. Today this would indeed be wrong because
generalizations in literature are a prima facie case one tiny thing can change it forever
as Shakespeare later did with King Lear where Edmund tries to change his own fortune
though deceit (not with the aid of gods). Though, one can argue that these are true only
for a certain dynamic language such as the English language, other languages with a far
smaller number of speakers (hence smaller number of writers) will lack of the resources
to change literature at all. Latin can be used as an example where one can see that almost
all of the foundation of the language is laid-out and its lack of speakers other than the
academic community will cause slow (if any) changes to it. In this case, simplicity should
be sought because of the easier understanding and one can rest assured that the language
and its associated literature will remain the same as it did for thousands of years and a
person can make generalizations and simplification of ideas. When seeking to simplify
things one has to use his/her knowledge to the fullest to determine whether he/she should
trust the simplification or not simplification in literature being bad, while
simplifications in others areas of knowledge like mathematics can be made.
In other areas of knowledge such as the sciences this quote can be interpreted as
half correct because a knower cannot grasp all the intricate ideas together without first
understanding the basics. In early science classes students are taught that atoms are the
base of everything. As a knower in an early age, one certainly believes these ideas are
true. Atoms on the whole do from the base for everything, but as time progresses a
knower learns that atoms are themselves made out of electrons, neutrons and protons.
The simple statement that everything is made out of atoms is a correct statement, but
many people do not regard the fact that atoms are also made out of something. The
correct response would be that everything is really made out of protons, electrons and
neutrons. This example also has some build-in ambiguities because no one has ever seen
atoms, yet we all believe that atoms do exist because we can sense them through alpha
and beta radiation. In this example we are deducing that touch takes priority in
determining the reality of something because as humans we believe that if it hurts, then it
is real. In this case we partially believe that atoms form the basis for everything. For a
knower in this case simplicity should be sought, but at times should be trusted because
one has to build a foundation of knowledge, after one has completely mastered these
topics, then should one start to go to the microscopic level and question why things are
the way they are. Other this than sometimes Whiteheads statement is seen as sometime
being both correct and incorrect.
At times our minds are taken over by a certain bias where simple ideas are
distrusted. This was seen when all astronomers believed that the orbit of planets was a
complex shape that they were unable determine, but Johannes Kepler finally discovered
after a lot of trials that planets really move in ellipses. It took him so many trials because
of the built-in bias at the time that planets move in complex shapes. Astronomers
distrusted simplicity for complexity, but it turned out that they were wrong. Indeed
simplicity would have been the correct and it can be safely generalized that all planets
move in ellipses. This example clearly illustrates the short-comings of believing in
Whiteheads quote; simple ideas should be distrusted at certain times.
Though one should not always deliberately distrust simple ideas, one should seek
them for further knowledge and use owns conscience to determine to what extent they
should distrust simplicity. This takes the use of knowledge in all the knowledge areas and
relating them too see if the idea will be true in a few years or if there are exceptions to the
rule. Whiteheads quote should be an integral part of everyones life. Instead of
overwhelming oneself with complex idea, one should seek to understand it in a simple
manner much like our education system when students start with the ABCs and move
on to read novels and later move onto the complexities of it. With the process of
reductio ad absurdam knowledge and ideas can change extremely fast. Nothing is
permanent not even language, so one should always be open to new ideas and
knowledge to make their conscience more accurate.

Works Cited

"Aborigines." Department of Indigenous Affairs (Australian Government). Australian
Government. 09 Mar. 2008 <http://www.atsia.gov.au/>.

Field, J. V. "Johannes Kepler." St. Andew's University. Apr. 1999. School of
Mathematics and Statistics. 10 Mar. 2008 <http://www-history.mcs.st-
andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Kepler.html>.

"Simplicity." The Metaphysics Research Lab. Stanford U. 11 Mar. 2008
<http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/simplicity/>.