How accurate is our knowledge

Sharon Burgmayer Transformation

I have had a recent interesting experience of reading a new book by an old friend. The book is about his family in the pre-1970 period. It includes a lot of information he discovered about his parents in the intervening years and ends with his rumination on how he could so have misunderstood his family in his youth. I knew his family for many years, and the book has shown me that I too misunderstood its members and their interrelationships.

Of course, in the four decades since the events in the book took place both my friend and I have matured and have come to understand the world in new ways. The book helps me exemplify the differences in both our views. However, the misunderstanding was more fundamental and resulted from conscious dissimulation by his family members.

The importance of such misunderstandings of course depends on the need to know. My friend had much greater need to understand his own family than I did outside that family.

But reading the book has made me think about the tentative nature of knowledge and understanding, and perhaps added to my caution in estimating my own falibility.