Tradition and modernization

[Whoisjohngalt]

(Its been some time since I visited these forums. Here is an essay of mine that I just wrote.)

TRADITION AND MODERNIZATION

The often heard complaint that tradition and modernization are incompatible and that one must choose between them is not a valid one. Traditional or modern ideas are either true or false depending on the content of these ideas. One has to choose between the right and the wrong ideas and not among the traditional and the modern ones. I will first give some common examples to illustrate the commonly held beliefs about tradition and modernization. Later, I shall show that one should rationally evaluate both the traditional and modern ideas before passing any judgments on both.

Some people say that traditional ideas are always false and some say that they are always true. To cite a simple real world example, if a father tells a son not to touch fire since it may burn his hand, it would be well for the son to consider this advice before taking any further action. Now, if the son rejects this advice point-blank, citing, for example, that he is too modern to listen to old people’s advice, and goes ahead and touches fire, it will surely burn his hand. It is only now that he will realize that his father’s advice was a sound one. On the other hand, it is the argument of some that tradition is always true. For example, in India, it is a popular tradition that one’s caste, which is determined by birth, determines one’s qualities. People hold this to be valid merely because it is a tradition. However, this is not valid since it is not always true that birth decides the qualities of an individual. Proper bringing up and education play a more important role in deciding one’s qualities. Thus, the argument from tradition that caste is a major factor in deciding one’s qualities is a false one. Similar examples can be given to those who say that modern ideas are always either true or false. Since these examples will be repetitive, these will not be included in this essay.

Let us now understand the terms “tradition” and “modernization”. Tradition, as commonly known, is the knowledge handed down to us from past generations. To elaborate, traditions are the thoughts and practices of people who are older than us. On the other hand, modernization is the knowledge, inclusive of thoughts and practices, handed to us from the present or recent generations, that is the people who are nearly of our age or younger. Thus, time is the only difference between traditional and modern knowledge! Saying tradition and modernization are incompatible is akin to saying what is said at a particular time X is false and what is said at another time Y is true just because time X occurred before time Y or vice versa. This is patently absurd since it does not take into account the actual content of the knowledge, but only takes into account the time at which the knowledge originates out of the human mind. For example, if I see a box and, at time X, say that it is blue and, at time Y, say that it is green, which of my utterings should be correct? This actually depends on the color of the box but not on the time of my saying it is of such and such a color. Since this is the case, the time at which I say that it is of such and such a color is totally irrelevant to the discussion.

The dividing-line between tradition and modernization, which is implicitly assumed by so many people of today, is a false one. This is because, this dividing-line does not take into account the actual content of the traditional and modern knowledge, but only the time at which the two knowledge’s originate from human minds and this “time factor” is an irrelevant consideration while evaluating the thoughts and practices of other people of either past or present age.

Therefore, to say that tradition and modernization are incompatible is not correct. This is because neither traditional nor modern ideas are always true or false. Some ideas may be false and some may be true, but this depends on the ideas themselves and not on the time at which these ideas originated. Thus the choice that one has to make in evaluating ideas is between right and wrong ideas, not old and new ones.