Archive

THINKING AND THOUGHT

LEADERSHIP, PART ONE

December 16, 2015
EDUCATION AND LEARNING, PEOPLE, PHILOSOPHY-ETHICS, THINKING AND THOUGHT

James Stockdale, an eight-year prisoner of war in Vietnam, a vice admiral, a college professor, a college president, and a vice presidential candidate, proposed a “discipline founded by Socrates–a discipline committed to the position that there is such a thing as central, objective truth and that what is ‘just’ transcends self interest.”

What will it take to get a worker, student, soldier, follower to reach a conclusion, to see the “vision” of a Stockdale leader?

The leader (or leader to be) must endorse the following:

1. You are your brother’s keeper
2. Life is not fair
3. Duty comes before defiance
4. Compulsion and free will can co exist
5. Every man can be more than he is
6. Freedom and absolute equality are a trade off
7. People do not like to be programmed
8. Living in harmonious “ant heaps” is contrary to man’s nature
9. The self-discipline of stoicism has everyday applications
10. Moral responsibility cannot be escaped.

It all seems so simple, simply put, clear. But it is not easy to be the moral leaders Stockdale wants. (Having a clear conscience is the foundation of Stockdale’s presentation.)

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“WHAT (MORE) DO I HAFTA KNOW?”

September 17, 2015
EDUCATION AND LEARNING, THINKING AND THOUGHT
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Ask: “What do I have to know in order to survive (in a world of argumentation)?”

Ask: “What do I need to know, to be a critical THINKER, LISTENER, DO-ER?”

KNOW THIS: 

truth/ probability

fact/ opinion

report/ inference/ judgment

assumption/ theory

open-minded/ close-minded

principle/ value  

belief/ bias/ prejudice

“REMEMBER THIS: A principle is what we stand up for; a value is what we stand around in.”

 

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COMPREHENSION AND CRITICAL READING

June 30, 2015
EDUCATION AND LEARNING, READING, THINKING AND THOUGHT, WRITING PHILOSOPHY
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Notes from an old college handout, 1960

By Abbé Ernest Dimnet [1866-1954]: “Dimnet invites the reader into a state of honesty, where he [or her] evaluates himself [or herself] as a thoughtful human being.” (Wikipedia)

“Whatever we read, we must first comprehend and, when we have comprehended, criticize.”

“Comprehension is the first and essential step in reading.”

“There is an abyss between people who want [literature] to be as accessible as the morning paper and people in possession of, or in search of, culture.”

“Criticizing is only another aspect of the effort to comprehend. The word in its etymology means ‘to judge,’ and, in fact, we think of a critic as a competent, not carping, judge.”

“Teachers should attach the greatest value to the school exercise called literary analysis.”

A student must acquire the habit…not to receive anything as true or beautiful, but to consider everything as a problem.”

“We should be given the habit of critical attention so that our first contact with anything worth the effort will give us as keen an impression as we are capable.”

“Comprehension is criticism, and criticism or judgment is a mere synonym for THOUGHT.”

“MERDE!”

April 28, 2015
EDUCATION AND LEARNING, THINKING AND THOUGHT
1 Comment

“The realms of advertising and of public relations, and the nowadays closely related realm of politics, are replete with instances of bullshit so unmitigated that they can serve among the most indisputable and classic paradigms of the concept.”

“Bullshit is unavoidable whenever circumstances require someone to talk without knowing what he [or she] is talking about.”

“The bullshitter…is neither on the side of the true nor on the side of the false. His eye is not on the facts at all. …his interest [is] in getting away with what he says…to suit his purpose.”

“…bullshit is a greater enemy of the truth than lies are.” –Harry G. Frankfurt, On Bullshit

no-bullshit from Stop with the BS