Black and White Thinking: the ENEMY of Intelligent Thought (page 2)

lifelong humanist

Terry

I just wanted you to know how much I enjoyed this thread you posted.

What you have expressed was well reasoned, logical, and beautifully written. Hopefully, anyone taking note of your points will benefit from seeking honest answers that work. It will produce a good effect in helping all types of people to be true to themselves. Similar expressions helped me appreciate the need to quit the JW cult, see things as they really are and not as how we want them to be. But it is tough! And you have to live with the consequences of loved ones around you that can't see in full, glorious technocolour!

Thank you.

lifelong humanist

PSacramento

I don't like extermissim in any form and the world tends to be more shades of gray then balck and white.

Thing is, reality is sunjective.

One person's reality may not be another persons and as such, what one takes as "gospel" may not be take as such by another.

Sometimes its a lack of point of reference or some times it is a lack of "life experience" and other times just a sillingness NOT to think beyond what is already "known".

Terry

I just wanted you to know how much I enjoyed this thread you posted.
What you have expressed was well reasoned, logical, and beautifully written. Hopefully, anyone taking note of your points will benefit from seeking honest answers that work. It will produce a good effect in helping all types of people to be true to themselves.
Thank you!
You never know what effect a word will have on others. I've been stopped cold many times in life by something somebody has said.
The point is to keep thinking actively with awareness. It is dangerous when you starting feeling certain. Very dangerous.

Perry

It is dangerous when you starting feeling certain. Very dangerous.

Is certitude always dangerous in your opinion? Can you conceive of an instance where certitude is appropriate?

Terry

It is dangerous when you starting feeling certain. Very dangerous.
Is certitude always dangerous in your opinion? Can you conceive of an instance where certitude is appropriate?
Yes, there is a sliding scale of importance to things.
The most important involves LIFE or DEATH situations. You can die from being certain and being wrong.
As you move along the scale to "is it okay to drink beer and take Tylenol" you may discover liver damage you didn't know was possible.
Eventually, you run in to feelings of certitude you can't do anything about anyway such as "I am certain the sun will come up tomorrow."
The purpose of certitude is what? Ask yourself that. "Of what benefit is it to be absolute?"
Usually it means that you DON'T THINK critically about something your are already certain of!
There is the danger. When you stop being critically aware.....you begin to be vulnerable.
Assess what you are sure of in TERMS OF CONTEXT.
If somebody starts telling me something I stop them---unless---I have a context (a safe folder to place the information inside of).
Is this presented as personal experience, hearsay, fact, rumor, innuendo, conjecture?/? What is it?
THEN and only then I listen and register what is being said.
Things heard WITHOUT a firm context can be quite dangerous.
Terry

Perry

Eventually, you run in to feelings of certitude you can't do anything about anyway such as "I am certain the sun will come up tomorrow."

The purpose of certitude is what? Ask yourself that. "Of what benefit is it to be absolute?"

I'm happy to hear that you do posess at least some black and white thinking when it comes to the Sun. This affords you a certain amout of freedom from worry and fear that the earth's weather processes driven by the Sun will continue. If you did not posess this certitude you would be so overcome with fear that it would interfere with your pursuits that bring a measure of happiness in this life. You wouldn't be able to function or get out of bed without that belief.

Certitude is one of the FOUNDATIONS of your life course and is your friend, not your enemy.

lalliv01

Terry, very good post.

"WHEN was the last time you were wrong.....and CHANGED your opinion, belief or actions???"

It's often that I tell myself, "if I knew then what I know now." I just wish I knew now what

I'm bound to learn in the future, wrong ideas or actions, or inactions, that I,m guilty of now.

My consolation is that I'm trying now to reason and be logical in my thoughts and actions.

Of course, I realize my reason and logic may not conform to others reason and logic, but

I'll gladly and quietly listen to what they have to say and hopefully enjoy it.

Terry

The things entirely out of our control can't matter as far as our "certainty" about them. Knowing the difference between these things and everything else is the beginning of intelligence.

There is a sliding scale:

1.Mere Opinion : people just have the feeling something is true but don't have the facts to build an argument. They'll say "I just KNOW it."

2. Informed Opinion: based on things they've experienced and read people have been persuaded by information.

3.Expert Opinion: formal research and devotion to studies in an area of expertise with years of experience lead to conclusions.

4. Scientific Fact: experiments with built-in falsifiability by scientists at any research facility have duplicated the conclusions and led to confidence that the data confirms the conclusion.

Note: none of these leads to Absolute Certainty because of some Black Swan event which cannot be imagined or taken into consideration.

It can be seen from this sliding scale of confidence that religious ideas fall into the OPINION categories.

Most things in everyday life for mere civilians hover between numbers 1 and 2.

Terry

VoidEater

WHEN was the last time you were wrong.....and CHANGED your opinion, belief or actions???

Lilith's soul probably was split and a portion of it resided in Evangelion Unit 00. But that's really another board.

If you did not posess this certitude you would be so overcome with fear...

Nope. Certitude is an *illusion* of security. Without certitude I just have *interest*.

In the face of belief, truth hasn't a chance. Being certain is the enemy of life.

Terry

I won't go so far as to say you can't be certain about anything.

That itself is a statement of certainty and would nullify itself :)

I will say it is with CAUTION one adopts a view of certainty.

One must be alert for Black Swan events.

Black and White Thinking: the ENEMY of Intelligent Thought

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