This piece from Newsweek is deeply troubling to me: http://www.newsweek.com/id/235560
Every American--and every member of Congress--needs to stop, take a deep breath, and hit the reset button on their thinking. If we are not willing to reconsider our positions in the light of evidence and openness to other perspectives, we will drive ourselves into the ground or into violent conflict.
I have never felt so strongly as I have these last months that philosophy needs to stand at the heart of intellectual education: the rules of logical thinking and a true understanding of competing points of view on politics, economics, ethics, religion, science, how knowledge takes place, what a human person is, and so forth. I don't mean shoving one position down students' throats but a real attempt at objective presentation of pros and cons for all positions. Postmodernism as it has trickled down to the common person has been used to legitimize tribalism of all sorts, and only a return to a chastened modernism and sense of objectivity will give us an intellectual path out of our hobbled thinking.
True love of our neighbor and enemy would of course be the stronger cure for who we are and give us the fullest education.
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2 comments:
Strongly agree !
Wishful thinking. Don't see it in the church, government, news media, marriages, relationships or anywhere else in life. To be honest with you Ken, I did not see you practice it all that well during the Bush administration. But maybe you are evolving and now with all the division in the country caused by the tatics and unpopular policies of the present administration it is time for us all to get along.
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