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#1 06-21-2008 12:21 PM
- Qwinn
- Typical White Person
- From: Atop a pile of dead witches
- Registered: 03-16-2005
- Posts: 5714
- Karma: 333
Awesome essay
A philosophical treatise on "criticismism", and the obnoxious cloying self-destructiveness of our culture's obsession with "critical thinking" - i.e., that the adversarial position is by definition superior to any other.
http://pajamasmedia.com/rogerkimball/2008/06/20/162/
Warning - it's long. But it's also one of the best reads I've enjoyed in a long while.
Qwinn
"The vice of capitalism is that there is an unequal share of the blessings; the virtue of socialism is that there is an equal share of the misery." -Sir Winston Churchill, British statesman (1874-1965)
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#2 06-21-2008 05:50 PM
- Crash6
- I am Jack's Raging Bile Duct
- From: Las Vegas, NV
- Registered: 04-09-2004
- Posts: 1355
- Karma: 67
Re: Awesome essay
Good essay. Thanks for sharing.
Ignorance is truly bliss, but only to a point. Critical thinking, maintaining awareness, and asking questions is the only way to combat against those who desire to manipulate and control.
I do agree, we lead a much bleaker existence because of it, but it's better than being slaves to superstition, fear and harmful ignorance.
Life is a tragedy for those who feel, and a comedy for those who think.
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#3 06-21-2008 10:17 PM
- Qwinn
- Typical White Person
- From: Atop a pile of dead witches
- Registered: 03-16-2005
- Posts: 5714
- Karma: 333
Re: Awesome essay
Glad you enjoyed it.
I don't think the essay's writer ever asserts that bliss, or happiness, is what we're missing out on in the exaltation of "critical thinking". That's not what he meant, for example, when he says: “It is an axiom of criticismism that the extent of our disillusionment is a reliable index of our wisdom: the idea that somehow the less we believe the more enlightened we are.” Nothing to do with "bliss" there.
As for being "slaves to fear", I dunno, that one sounds to me (not you specifically, please don't take offense) like 9/11 Truthers who continually assert that Bush is manipulating us via fearmongering. As if what the 9/11 Truthers themselves are constantly telling us isn't much much worse than anything Bush wants us to be scared of.
If the worst thing in the world is being "slaves to superstition, fear and harmful ignorance", I'd say there's quite a bit of fear inherent in that statement - fear of superstition, ignorance and fear itself.
I personally consider being a slave to nihilism worse than any of the above. And there's -no- ignorance that is quite as refined and absolute - no, not even the ignorance of those who believe in "superstition" - as the sort of ignorance that arises from the conviction that there is no such thing as truth, and there's nothing worth knowing or that can be known. I can't see any other kind of ignorance that could be more harmful either.
Qwinn
Last edited by Qwinn (06-21-2008 11:01 PM)
"The vice of capitalism is that there is an unequal share of the blessings; the virtue of socialism is that there is an equal share of the misery." -Sir Winston Churchill, British statesman (1874-1965)
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#4 06-21-2008 11:11 PM
- Crash6
- I am Jack's Raging Bile Duct
- From: Las Vegas, NV
- Registered: 04-09-2004
- Posts: 1355
- Karma: 67
Re: Awesome essay
The 'bliss' part was all me.
There are many things in my life that I sincerely wish I wasn't aware of.
IMHO, the process of aging and maturity is nothing more than a series of disillusionments. Some people become so distraught by this, that they come to expect disillusionment, lies, and distrust of what is currently understood, in all aspects of their existence. Again, IMHO, that mindset was the birth place of the philosophies of Nietzsche and the like.
My use of the word 'fear' more relates to the ignorance and superstition of people in the dark ages, who blindly accepted the word of the church, or that of folklore, instead of investigating aspects of their lives for themselves. They were actually scared to ask questions, which I find very sad. It took a long time to move away from that mindset.
Ultimately, everyone must, at some point, arrive at their own conclusions about what knowledge is needed, and what is not. Everyone will pursue answers to varying degrees, as far as they are willing to make the appropriate sacrifices to attain them. Some will reach a point where the pursuit becomes too exhausting, and the ends no longer justify the means. Some will attain everything they ever wanted, only to realize they are no better for it, and now with nowhere to go. Most, with life experience, will reach a happy medium and simply accept certain things are better left unexplored, unexplained, and maybe even unpursued. But thats their choice, and for no one else to dictate.
Last edited by Crash6 (06-21-2008 11:12 PM)
Life is a tragedy for those who feel, and a comedy for those who think.
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#5 06-23-2008 07:42 PM
- peoples army
- Member
- Registered: 06-10-2004
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Re: Awesome essay
Yes, a great article: concise, necessary, and full of thinking that is fresh, inventive, and - dare I say it - critical.
IMHO, the process of aging and maturity is nothing more than a series of disillusionments.
Wow.
Happy birthday.
....We are still in.....the desert....
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#6 06-24-2008 11:17 AM
- SoulWrangler
- Anal Destroyer
- From: The world of tomorrow!
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Re: Awesome essay
I keep thinking because of the title, about enlightenment, that in the eastern sense of enlightenment, everyone becomes enlightened when they die, so theres no real point in striving to it in life.
“LOOK round you,” said the citizen. “This is the largest market in the world.”
“Oh, surely not,” said the traveller. “Well, perhaps not the largest,” said the citizen, “but much the best.”
“You are certainly wrong there,” said the traveller. “I can tell you . . .”
They buried the stranger at the dusk.
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#7 06-24-2008 11:44 AM
- axe
- not quebecois
- From: Moncton, Canada
- Registered: 08-24-2005
- Posts: 5889
- Karma: 309
Re: Awesome essay
I see his point, but I disagree with him.
Begging hands and bleeding hearts
will only cry out for more
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