"Truth, Knowledge, and The X-Files," by Kelsey White

The Truth is Out There

For as long as humanity has existed, so has the search for the seemingly intangible object that is “the truth”. Where did we come from? Why are we here? Is there a purpose to anything we do? To every question ever posed, philosophical or not, there has been an expectation that there is an answer – a truth – that accompanies it. If that truth isn’t easily found, then a search is conducted until it can be discovered. Even more frustrating is when one believes they have found the truth, how can one prove it or be absolutely certain that it is “the truth””? One show that quite blatantly explores this quandary is the X-Files. Throughout the series, Agents Mulder, Scully, and everyone else they come into contact with at the FBI are faced with the possibility of the existence of the supernatural, most importantly aliens.

At the beginning of the show, we are introduced to Agent Dana Scully who has been assigned to the X-Files for one main purpose: keep an eye on crazy Agent Mulder. Fox Mulder is the only agent who fully believes in the X-Files and everything that goes with it. Scully is charged to try and disprove his theories and investigations with science – in other words, the FBI wants her to give scientific explanations to the otherwise unexplainable. She is suited perfectly for the job, as the viewers will see her constantly trying to come up with a logical theory while Mulder’s first reaction is usually to blame the paranormal. Truth and absolute knowledge is what they both attempt to gain throughout the series, but entirely different kinds.

First, we’ll take a look at Fox Mulder. He is driven by emotional needs to prove the existence of aliens, since he saw his little sister Samantha get abducted when they were kids, and she’s been missing ever since. That is the basis for the show – what happened to Sam? Mulder is led by “blind” faith multiple times, acting on hunches rather than facts, though he is often right. He claims that he “knows” aliens exist – that “the truth is out there” (as the audience is constantly reminded by the large poster in his office featuring those words and a UFO), because of his experience as a child. This is known as a posteriori knowledge, knowledge that is known by an experience. Still, his memory of his sister’s abduction is hardly enough for the FBI to believe he is right, and for good reason. His belief in aliens is based on a personal experience when he was a child, so not only is he biased, but, a child’s memory is fallible. There isn’t a whole lot of proof supporting aliens, and whenever Mulder and Scully do investigate the paranormal, there isn’t concrete evidence that will hold in court. Still, they see the unexplainable with their own eyes. Mulder’s belief turns into knowledge. So while the rest of the people in the X-Files universe have their doubts and skepticism, the audience generally believes along with him.

More astonishing than Mulder’s belief in aliens is Scully’s disbelief. In most of the shows episodes, she either sees the paranormal with her own eyes or realizes there can’t be another way to describe the unusual occurrences. Yet when a new case opens up, her first reaction is always that science will explain it. She is reluctant to believe Mulder without any scientific proof, though this isn’t to say that is necessarily a bad thing. She is the voice of reason in the show, and that voice has saved both of them quite often. Still, it is a wonder that she holds a staunch disbelief in the paranormal. English philosopher G.E. Moore once commented in a lecture how absurd it was to say “I see this, but I don’t believe it”. This has become known as Moore’s Paradox. Scully is a perfect example, as time after time she is faced with the existence of aliens, yet she will always deny it until there is no other way that science can explain it.

Philosophers once described knowledge as justified true belief. Three things have to happen before you can claim to know something:

i) P is true
ii) You believe P
iii) And you have good evidence (are justified) in believing P

However, philosopher Edmund Gettier changed this when he presented examples of justified true belief that did not constitute as knowledge. Following is an example given by James Pryor of one such Gettier problem:

“Suppose you're driving through rural Pennsylvania. As a matter of fact, the region you're driving through contains a lot of fake barns: mere wooden fronts that just look like barns from the road. But you don't know this, and have no reason to suspect it. You look off to your left and you see something that looks like a barn, so you believe "That's a barn." In fact, it is a barn. It's one of the few barns in the region. But you're just lucky. If you had looked at a fake barn instead, you would have believed that it was a barn.

In this case, it seems that your belief that you're driving by a barn is justified or reasonable. After all, it looks like a barn; and you've never heard about a region full of fake barns. And your belief is also true. But we're reluctant to say that you know that you're driving by a barn.” (James Pryor)

So you can be tricked into believing you have true knowledge when really, you don’t, which is what happens to Agent Mulder in the episode Gethsemane. Mulder is led to believe that an alien body was found in the frozen parts of the Yukon Territory, and they even bring the specimen in to test it. For all intents and purposes, it is an alien. However, he later finds out that everything was constructed by an intelligence group so that he would believe. It was all so perfectly orchestrated, down to the last detail, that Mulder believed it. His claim of “aliens exist” is justified because the intelligence group set everything up so flawlessly that he would have been a fool not to believe. However, since nothing was real and it was all a lie, he couldn’t have had absolute knowledge.

After Mulder discovers everything was a lie, he becomes so distraught that he kills himself. This raises the question “is it better to be content without proof or is it better to search for the truth”? There is no doubt that had Mulder dismissed the proposal of alien existence, his life would be a lot safer. But is safe the definition of “better”? Mulder accuses Scully of being too apathetic, saying it’s easier for her to believe the lie, but he simply can’t. It is this insatiable thirst for knowledge that later becomes his downfall, though it is also stated that the people that designed the hoax also gave Scully her cancer to encourage Mulder’s belief, so it also hurt people he cared about. In the sense that he was hurting others in his hunt, perhaps it would have been better for him to give it up. Then again, one can hardly blame truth itself, as it was a falsehood that led to the unfavorable events. So is truth always beneficial? It depends on what you would define “beneficial” as. It could be defined as something that makes you happy, or something that may not make you happy but may help you physically. Let’s say that you still believe in Santa Claus. Perhaps your parents never felt the need to explain otherwise, or they just didn’t want to upset you. Whatever the reason, you still wait up Christmas Eve night, listening eagerly for the sound of reindeer on the rooftop. Now let’s say that one day, I told you the truth: Santa doesn’t exist. Although I’m sure you’d be devastated, I probably just saved you from humiliation down the road. While you may not have appreciated it at the time, ultimately, I was doing you a favor. In an emotional sense, it may not have been the best thing to do, but in a realistic sense, it was.

So was Mulder finding out everything was a set up beneficial to him, or no? Seeing that he killed himself, it could definitely be seen as a bad move. However, if he had continued to believe and go down the false road, getting himself wedged deeper and deeper into the lies, would that have been good? There could have been some major devastating effects, more-so than simply his death alone. The people in charge of the hoax certainly had no problem with hurting other people. So was it good that he found out when he did, even if the result was unpleasant?

Although we may not be in the same situation as Agent Mulder, we can relate to struggling with belief, truth, and knowledge. As Christians we often talk about our belief in God. Many times, we turn “I believe” into “I know”, as though belief and knowledge are the same thing. On the contrary, they are two entirely separate subjects. Often times, people use the word “know” when talking about things they really care about and would rather not think about there being a possibility of it not being true. Epistemology is the study of knowledge and its main purpose is to distinguish between knowledge and belief. While knowledge entails belief (you should believe something if you know it), belief doesn’t always entail knowledge. Put simply, truth isn’t a prerequisite for a belief. There are plenty of kids all around the world who believe in Santa Claus, and there are plenty of adults that think Elvis is still alive with the aliens when the truth is, scientifically, it would be impossible for Santa to exist and Elvis’ body was found and buried after his death. Still, people believe.

However, truth is a prerequisite for knowledge. For example, if someone believes that when they sit down on a chair, it will hold them, but after they sit down it collapses, you could say that they believed the chair would hold their weight, but they did not know it. Back to the subject of God, can Christians really know that he exists, or can they just believe? Furthermore, if we say that we know God exists, does that defeat the purpose of faith? Faith is defined as “belief that is not based on proof”. Therefore, a Christian cannot have faith in God while claim to know for a fact He exists at the same time.

The search for truth continues throughout the rest of the show, with plenty of twists and turns along the way. I’m sure most everyone can relate to the series at some point. Maybe aliens didn’t abduct your sister, and maybe you aren’t being tracked by a mysterious (and slightly creepy) cigarette-smoking man, but I’m sure there have been times in your life when you have searched for answers. It isn’t something easily done most of the time, and it certainly requires effort. Whether or not it is always beneficial depends on the situation, and whether or not you actually know what you think you know is up in the air. But I wouldn’t be so quick to throw in the towel. The truth is still out there. It’s up to you to make of it what you will.