Popular Post dream_weaver Posted June 7, 2014 Popular Post Report Share Posted June 7, 2014 Critical thinking skills are an acquired ability to distinguish between clear and unclear expressions of thought. An ability that comes in handy is the ability to evaluate a statement with regard to how others might perceive it. A statement may seem clear at first, in the context of what was being considered when writing it, and lose that clarity when reviewing it at some point in the future. Objectivism is a philosophy that touts reason and logic underpinning the five basic branches, and the host of factors that give rise to its hierarchy and structure. Understanding it, like understanding anything, is not automatic. Imagine an outsider with little more familiarity to Objectivism, than hearing it is the solution to all the problems in the world. While this is an overstatement, Objectivism posits solutions to understanding key issues in ethics and politics that run askew to anything tried during the course of human history. The internet has more materials than anyone could possibly process in a lifetime. People need to allocate their time when using the Internet, just like anything else, and seek out what they esteem of value. A forum offers the opportunity to discuss and share ideas that fall under a common theme. People interested in understanding more about math, can find a math forum. I consider a forum like Freethought and Rationalism as a showcase for what advocating any and every idea as possible and plausible leads to. Objectivism advocates the adherence to a method in order to establish if an idea is possible, possible and ultimately as certain. Ideas that do not meet these criteria are deemed to be arbitrary. Critical thinking skills are honed by arriving to a conclusion of the ideas position along this continuum. While there is a place of being critical of others, it is usually accompanied by making a strong case supporting it. Folks who come here to read these threads are hopefully interested in what Objectivism is, and how it can benefit them. They can argue willy-nilly at home, work, school or favorite social club. Objectivism identifies the role that philosophy in the course of human events. If rational discourse with a sincere respect for logic is to return to the culture at large, where is it to start? Harrison Danneskjold, softwareNerd, DonAthos and 1 other 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StrictlyLogical Posted June 7, 2014 Report Share Posted June 7, 2014 Your words are thoughtful. I have read every kind of discourse in these forums, from insipid, dogmatic, evasive, rationalistic, parroting, to thoughtful, heartfelt, brilliant, awe-inspiring, lucid, enlightening... we get people in here from all walks of life, every level of education, every leaning in politics, philosophy, religion, we have some incredibly intelligent people and a few crackpots posting here... I think an open forum will get all of the above and it can be a good thing... certainly it is good sometimes. softwareNerd 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dream_weaver Posted June 7, 2014 Author Report Share Posted June 7, 2014 Reading that, I'm reminded of a point Ridpath had made in Religion vs. Man - speaking of tolerance. "Unbounded tolerance is not a virtue." It had to do with the eastern mystics, and the notion of "no-mind" - kind of a self-imposed, frontal lobotomy - in contrast with the western mystics, who picked up their swords and went out on their crusades. To which he added: "At least they had a purpose." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tadmjones Posted June 7, 2014 Report Share Posted June 7, 2014 Reading that, I'm reminded of a point Ridpath had made in Religion vs. Man - speaking of tolerance. "Unbounded tolerance is not a virtue." It had to do with the eastern mystics, and the notion of "no-mind" - kind of a self-imposed, frontal lobotomy - in contrast with the western mystics, who picked up their swords and went out on their crusades. To which he added: "At least they had a purpose." Well um ok, but who would you rather have for a neighbor? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dream_weaver Posted June 7, 2014 Author Report Share Posted June 7, 2014 Understood, tadmjones. That does leave the fuller context of the overall message of Ridpath's presentation aside. If you consider where the west matured to during the 1700-1900 vs. the east during the same period, I rather enjoy the land of eternal spring made possible by discovery of HVAC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Repairman Posted June 7, 2014 Report Share Posted June 7, 2014 Dream-weaver: This forum is very meaningful to me. It is, as you said, the place were ideas and critical thinking can be challenged. Our culture is dominated by advertizing media, infotainment distractions, fashions, fads, and celebrity role-models who promote altruism, while securing their fortunes in foreign bank accounts. This very well could be the market place of a popular culture trend that could redeem Western Civilization. I can only hope that rational people everywhere develop the principles of Objectivism into their normal practices, bestow them on their children, and begin a process of restoring reason in a world that seems, at times, quite opposed to reason. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dream_weaver Posted June 7, 2014 Author Report Share Posted June 7, 2014 If I were to reword part of that to: It is, as you said, the place where ideas can be challenged by critical thinking, Many folks express the sense that there is something essentially wrong in the world. The news media, politics/government, education along with your 'shortlist' seek in some way to fill, or address that gap, seeking to fill, if you will, the void created by viewing reason and logic thru a false alternative as being either wrong or useless - tying into another point Piekoff puts forth in his Introduction to Logic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tadmjones Posted June 7, 2014 Report Share Posted June 7, 2014 Understood, tadmjones. That does leave the fuller context of the overall message of Ridpath's presentation aside. If you consider where the west matured to during the 1700-1900 vs. the east during the same period, I rather enjoy the land of eternal spring made possible by discovery of HVAC. Huge fan of HVAC, here too, but still might have to give a hat tip to eastern modalities and their influence on the crude western mindset, we did have to get comfortable with the idea of not being able to make cold in order to make it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dream_weaver Posted June 7, 2014 Author Report Share Posted June 7, 2014 (edited) Would you attribute HVAC to the eastern modalities, as you put it, or more to Thomas Aquinas' attempt to integrate his discovery of Aristotle's works with the dogmas of the church? Edited June 7, 2014 by dream_weaver Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StrictlyLogical Posted June 7, 2014 Report Share Posted June 7, 2014 Dream-weaver: This forum is very meaningful to me. It is, as you said, the place were ideas and critical thinking can be challenged. Our culture is dominated by advertizing media, infotainment distractions, fashions, fads, and celebrity role-models who promote altruism, while securing their fortunes in foreign bank accounts. This very well could be the market place of a popular culture trend that could redeem Western Civilization. I can only hope that rational people everywhere develop the principles of Objectivism into their normal practices, bestow them on their children, and begin a process of restoring reason in a world that seems, at times, quite opposed to reason. I agree with almost all of what you said except for ... "restoring reason in a world..." In some sense it may partly be true .. politically and economically compare now to the founding of America, but in the entire scope of mysticism, ethics, etc. this is not so much about "restoring" it as popularizing its recent profound consistent discovery and application... Rand's work. dream_weaver and Repairman 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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