Ubaidullah Pandit (عبيدالله پنڈت)

The 20th century mathematician, logician and philosopher Bertrand Russell is reported to have said that he would never die for his beliefs because he might be wrong. In the code of intellectual conduct this is called The Fallibility Principle. It simply says that whenever we go about discussing and debating things, we have to bear in mind that we are fallible and our position and views may not be tenable always. There may come a point in any sort of discourse or confrontation when we have to give up our initial position in favor of the truth even if it comes from the adversary or even if it’s at loggerheads with our ego. In simpler words, it’s accepting that we may be wrong, full stop. Along with this principle, there’s The Principle of Truth-Seeking which states that the main aim of every discussion or exchange of ideas is to arrive at what is true or at least get closer thereto. Both these principles are equally important, work in tandem and for that matter complementary to eac...