“Don’t let your babies grow up to be cowboys.†Willie Nelson
I imagine myself as a member of a small group of riders trying desperately to turn the stampeding herd before that herd reaches the cliffs.
The herd is humanity. My fellow riders are the few who, like me, think they have been enlightened and wish to stop an impending catastrophe. The skeptical reader is, of course, correct that the riders may be idiots and that the herd is just seeking better pastures. The consoling thought for the riders is that if they, the riders, are wrong it is of little consequence because they are so few; while the herd, if wrong, will probably destroy them self.
The riders, like me, think that there is a fundamental issue, that if resolved, will reposition the herd into a more perceptive and reasonable mode and thus the herd will live happily ever after.
The fundamental issue that concerns the riders is that the herd makes very poor decisions. For this reason the riders think that if the herd became Critical Thinkers and self-learners matters would improve. See “Bertrand Russell on Critical Thinking†bu.edu/wcp/Papers/Educ/EducHare.htm
A rider from a past generation spoke about these matters in:
The Decline of Western Democracy
by Walter Lippmann
“There has developed in this century a functional derangement of the relationship between the mass of the people and the government. The people have acquired power which they are incapable of exercising and the governments they elect have lost powers which they must recover if they are to govern …†theatlantic.com/ideastour/po … erpt.mhtml
For copyright reasons, the full text of this article is not available on The Atlantic’s site.
The herd will always be the herd. Every generation produces “improvers of mankind”. Critical thinking is not an off-the-shelf commodity. Those of us that think critially may regret what we ask for if the herd begins to think. It would cease to be a herd, for one thing.
This OP reminds me of “The Catcher in the Rye”. A friend in a 12 step program once told me that he had to put his white horse in the stable, give up being a knight errant, attend to his own garden (Voltaire’s “Candide”.) Another told me that he had to keep his pliers in his back pocket to fix himself. They did not work on anybody else.
For those who see the sorrows of humans fuckin’ up, it is necessary to see first how one can espouse all kinds of remedies without first seeking a remedy for themselves. Only a repaired self can offer repairs elsewhere; and this is done by example, not by preaching or proselytizing.
You are certainly correct when you argue that we must know our self in order to become more rational creatures. We must become conscious of the ego and socio centric forces that are constantly pulling us into the dark ally.
I hate when people take an accepted given, even a negative one, then force you to think about the structure of it, and the outcome if change occurs with status quo.
Damn it faust. I’ll be back later coberst, now my mind is tangled.
What are you thinking? We don’t need any more people with critical thinking skills. We need more sheep. The problem is that there are too many critical thinkers.
You are right tent. “We do not need more people with (inadequate) critical thinking skills”. We need one visionary thinker who can point to how the ‘cattle’ and the ‘sheep’ can become real people.
Coberst (and krossie - the communist that wants everyone to be free thinkers) - I have made two points. One is that the herd will always be the herd. If history means anything at all. The other is that that is how we got this far - far enough for you and I to have the free time to ponder this stuff. It is necessary for civilisation. It is also a large advantage for anyone who is not a herd animal, irritating as the cattle may be at times.
For a full exposition of this idea (and at the risk of alientating Mastriani entirely from this notion) read all of Nietzsche and report back to us. All of your questions will be answered.
I’d do it here, but I’m a little tired, and he has already done it. And it took a while, even for him.
No we don’t need more people with inadequate critical thinking skills, we need more people with fundemantelly good critical thinking skills. The only problem we have with that is culture. Some culture’s think differently, more on a morally negative level (depending where you are raised).
Would someone please tell me what all these adept critical-thinkers would do, except to pass laws that would make society just the way you envision it? That’s what this is all about, the ol’ Philosopher King thing. Just what are these critical thinkers supposed to do? Mow their lawns more often? Paint their houses colors you like? What?
Well faust if you’re going to start asking impossible questions may I ask you what the point of existence is?
No but you’re right critical thinking doesn’t really get us anywhere except to new scientific advances, which may not truthfully get us anywhere anyway.
I have no idea what the phrase “point of existence” means, and I have been thinking about it, and reading about it, for over a quarter-century.
I think science is doing okay - that it’s not a crisis, especially since the pace of technology can outstrip our ability to manage it properly if it is too fast a pace.
I guess we could all use better cars. But better cars does not a Utopia make.And most people who work in the field of science are like anyone else - they are drones. Worker bees. That’s okay.
Is there some technological breakthrough that you anticipate, and that seems a bit slow in coming?
Please, try not to give me the “cure for cancer” answer. We are doing an acceptable job there. People die. Sometimes of disease. The perfect, painfree, everyone-lives-to-a-hundred world does not come without a price. Nothing does.
I did want to mention firstly that I was being sarcastic.
Anyway, i’m sure you’ve been questioning the ‘point of existence’ because its something thats impossible to even try to answer. (in my opinion of course).
No there is nothing in science I am anticipating…i’m not quite sure how that relates to our critical thinking topic?
