"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for dinner. Liberty is a well-armed lamb disputing the outcome."
--(Attributed to) Benjamin Franklin
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Open-Mindedness: Not All That Meets The Eye?
Materialists are often accused of being "closed-minded." This seems an apt and apposite reply:
Beautiful! When I was studying philosophy and biology in college I learned for the first time in my life how to think critically. I had always been someone who had ideas about things and had noticed lots of things weren't the way people said they were or how I was lead to believe they were, but it wasn't until I was shown how to think, that I was finally able to piece things together and could then determine what to think. This is why I tell people that, intellectually, I'm agnostic. Not because I'm a fence straddler, hedging my bets, but because logically it is what makes the most sense. I then go on to explain that in my every day, practical existence, I'm an atheist, because I don't live my life praying, seeking god or living according to the dictates of said god. In essence, in a very pragmatic sense I live my life as if there were no god at all.
One more thing, totally off topic: I think if you reword your George Bernard Shaw quote it might explain why some people see a "liberal" media bias. Here: "The power of accurate observation is commonly called liberal media bias by those who have not got it." For years I had this idea in my mind as an explanation for this phenomenon, but it really didn't coalesce into something easily expressed until I read that quote just now, and I had seen that quote on your blog every time I've stopped by, plus other places over the years. Whattya think? Could there be something to it?
2 comments:
Beautiful! When I was studying philosophy and biology in college I learned for the first time in my life how to think critically. I had always been someone who had ideas about things and had noticed lots of things weren't the way people said they were or how I was lead to believe they were, but it wasn't until I was shown how to think, that I was finally able to piece things together and could then determine what to think. This is why I tell people that, intellectually, I'm agnostic. Not because I'm a fence straddler, hedging my bets, but because logically it is what makes the most sense. I then go on to explain that in my every day, practical existence, I'm an atheist, because I don't live my life praying, seeking god or living according to the dictates of said god. In essence, in a very pragmatic sense I live my life as if there were no god at all.
One more thing, totally off topic: I think if you reword your George Bernard Shaw quote it might explain why some people see a "liberal" media bias. Here: "The power of accurate observation is commonly called liberal media bias by those who have not got it." For years I had this idea in my mind as an explanation for this phenomenon, but it really didn't coalesce into something easily expressed until I read that quote just now, and I had seen that quote on your blog every time I've stopped by, plus other places over the years. Whattya think? Could there be something to it?
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