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Truth Claims and the Future of Web Design
July 9th, 2008 in Web Design Worldview
by: Matthew Griffin
"What is truth?" Pontius Pilate asked this question almost 2000 years ago. At the time, he had no inkling of the infamy which was to follow these words through the millennia. He asked the question as a jaded cynic—he had no interest in knowing the truth. In fact, his question is of a rhetorical nature, implying simply that there is no truth. And yet, in asking this question he hit the very crux of the human condition. Our view of truth is the Rosetta Stone for how we interpret life, relationships, ethics, vocation, and even design. It's the foundation of our worldview. Without a firm grasp on the popular views of truth we encounter, we will find ourselves in situations where our speech is lost in translation. Remember, when we talk about truth here, we are talking about the whole ball of wax. We're asking, What is reality? What is right and what is wrong? What really happened in history? What is real? The question extends out to every area of existence and has enormous implications for the future of our work in web design. In order to clear the haze, we'll start by looking at some popular views of truth and then we'll move on to the historical Christian view of truth and why it conforms to reality as no other view does.
Statistical Truth: Finding Truth in Numbers
Statistical truth is a popular view of that follows closely along the path of evolutionary psychology. It defines truth as "whatever the data supports." It starts by assuming the non-existence (or at least irrelevance) of a supreme, all-knowing being and then looks to external data for a definition of reality. When the numbers are in and everything is tallied up, truth becomes apparent. In this system's view of ethics, for example, if 51% of a group of people believe that murder is wrong, then it's wrong. It proposes that, aside from statistical analysis, there is no legitimate metric for measuring the truth. In other words, the data necessary for compiling an accurate model of reality is available external to ourselves. But the logic necessary for processing and interpreting the data is found within the human being and is generally reliable as long as it's unencumbered by irrational superstition.
An honest application of statistical truth to design has logical processing of data telling us what the perfect web design is. According to statistical truth, all we need to be good designers is consume and process enough statistical data about our field. In the end, though, there is no room for diversity in statistical truth. And that just isn't reality. When you push statistical truth all the way out to it's furthest conclusions, it fails miserably. Eventually, it leads to pure unity with no room for creativity or progress. But we don't even have to get that far before statistical truth begins to break down. It's very premise begs a disruptive question: Why should we trust our own logical faculties? Without the presence of a logical designer, there is no reason why our logic should be trusted. This is where our next truth claim steps in—intrinsic truth.
Intrinsic Truth: Finding Truth in Self-expression
Another popular view of truth that's more commonly found in the creative crowd is intrinsic truth. That is, truth that can be found within each individual. With intrinsic truth, there is no overarching reality. Reality is only as real as an individual perceives it. I like to call this philosophy the Disney truth because it's all about following your heart—discovering your inner self. And as we all know, "Follow your heart" is the mantra of just about every lovable furry sidekick Disney has ever produced. Why follow your heart? Well, because that's where the truth lives. In the view of intrinsic truth, the only necessary action for our realization of truth is that we scrub away the scum left by outside influences and malevolent victimizers.
Intrinsic truth holds itself up as a recipe for "finding yourself." In reality, it's anything but. Intrinsic truth tells designers that all they need to do is express themselves and they will find truth and be satisfied and happy. Makoto Fujimura of the International Arts Movement found this path to lead to a somewhat different destination. In his recent autobiography River Grace he explained:
...the more I focused on myself, the less I could find myself... A schism grew inside between who I wanted to be and what I did.
Makoto Fujimura
Intrinsic truth tries to find reality by denying that there is one reality. Proposing, rather, that we all have our own realities. But again, we are left with a view of truth that is unlivable. Without a unified truth, we are left to despair. There is no hope that our web sites will ever communicate anything.
Revealed Truth: Finding Truth Outside Ourselves
Let's take a step back and revisit our starting assumption about truth. Let's say (in contrast to the first two views) there is a supreme being who is both unified and diverse, who knows all, sees all, controls all, and has defined the rules of the universe. If such a being exists, then whatever that being's view of reality is, is truly reality. In this view, truth would be defined as "reality as God sees it." With this starting assumption we've already solved the problem of overarching truth. In this model, truth can actually exist—It exists outside of us, completely independent of our finite perception. It doesn't require our acknowledgment in any way to continue existing.
But the existence of a supreme being is inconsequential unless that being has revealed some part of this reality to human beings—some kind of key to determining truth from lie or fantasy. Without revelation, we're back in the mix with the other two views of truth.
Christianity has historically accepted two infallible revelations of God: his word (the Bible) and his physical creation. God's revelation in his physical creation is called general revelation. It speaks of his glory, his orderly nature, his diversity, and his power. It is enough to leave us with no doubt that he is God and force us to face his majesty. But without his specific revelation, the Bible, we would be ignorant of the important details of his work, his plan, and his requirements of us.
The Irony of Pontius Pilate's question about truth is that the truth was standing right in front of him—Christ. In this system of truth established by Christ, the future of design is hopeful. In fact, it's the only system that provides any lasting hope for design. It allows for a set of real governing laws of design without diminishing the legitimacy or importance of diversity within design. It gives us a system that we can actually live out. Now, we the designers get to decide which path web design will follow in the coming generations. And I for one will continue to spread the good news of God's revelation of truth and how it shapes design. If you want to read more about the Christian worldview and how it relates to web design, go to the Worldview Center page.
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