WHO TEACHES US TO THINK?

Hi Hi Hi. I'm morri.thinkingman :-) Welcome to an opportunity to think about; who teaches us to think?

Did you ever wonder, who actually teaches us to Think reasonably in our scientific age? You know, our age is enormously complex, and becoming more confusing all the time. (Just reading the owner's manual on my new CD player gave me a headache).

Each day we are driven to make a multitude of cause-effect decisions; required to come to correct conclusions from a long chain of details, forced to infer how new laws affect our lives, how to understand our own emotional knots, or determine on what basis one product is better than another. Yet among all of society's institutions, which one teaches us to Think critically for ourselves?

Education does not teach us to Think. In kindergarten we are taught to play. At elementary school and high school they teach us what to think about. At vocational colleges they teach us the skills of work. At university they teach us the contents and rites of specialisations as: Art, Business, Commerce, Education, Engineering or Science. These professions are narrow ways of thinking peculiar to each and independent of others. An Artist cannot do the job of an Engineer, and an Accountant may not make the best Scientist. University training is a kind of thinking that is not common to all professions nor to our personal selves.

We have all heard of an Artists, Marketeers, Accountants, Teachers, Engineers and Scientists, but where in the education system are the Thinkers? Have you ever seen one? Education does not teaching Thinking as a subject.

Who teaches us to Think? Churches show little evidence of this.

Christian churches are uninterested in teaching people to Think reasonably. In fact I would put it more strongly; Churches are interested in people not Thinking independently. Why? Christian churches want people to believe their teachings. Belief is acceptance and commitment to a set of standard beliefs and practices like regular attendance and commitment of resources.

People then rely on the church to direct their their lives. Christians - ideally - are advised to believe what their church leaders tell them is correct, rather than critically question what is to be believed. Churches do not teach us to Think.

Who teaches us to Think? Not the Law.

The law arrests non-reasonable people on the basis of rule-breaking, and punishes them according to evidence and argument. But what lawyer ever offered to explain how he thinks? When do law makers or law enforcers ever teach law breakers how to Think about the Law? Could you imagine a penal system where prisoners are taught formal principles of critical thought? And are not criminals victims of their own uncritical over-generalizations? eg. "Banks have money so we will take it and spend it." This is too simple because it is too general. And is it possible law-breakers turn to crime because they cannot turn their own minds to productive ends? How is a law breaker's irrational mind improved by five years in jail? I suspect law is not helping us to Think.

Who teaches us to Think? Not the media.

Newspapers, TV and radio make advertising money by reporting hourly all the results of non-thinking: the daily crimes, follies, iniquities and calamities of humanity. The media argue their role is only to reflect society's values. Could you imagine a newspaper reporting acts of Thinking? They declare it is not their job to teach virtue. Instead they diligently inform our daily lives with the latest disasters, the atrocious effects of war, abominable crimes of unrestrained passions and other inhumanities caused by non-thinking. The media do not teach us to Think.

Who teaches us to Think? Not science.

A check of the bookstores will offer many titles on science, but only very rarely a title about how scientists actually Think. The great preponderance of modern scientific titles are about the what - content - of science rather than the thinking of scientists. Scientists rarely explain how they think or demonstrate their proofs.

The word 'Science' comes from the Latin scientia which means to know. Knowledge is 'that which is known, and may be demonstrated to be known'. Too often we accept a thing merely because Einstein or Hawking said it.

Can we truly say; "I know such and such is true" without seeing a demonstration of that truth? The answer - scientifically speaking - is no.

Check your memory. Ever seen a scientist demonstrate the roundness of the earth, demonstrate that the sun is the center of the solar system, demonstrate that gravitational force is M2 x M2 divided by D2, demonstrate relativity, demonstrate quantum, demonstrate that evolution is a fact, demonstrate a missing link between species, demonstrate any common scientifically accepted conclusion held to be true? This duty is very rarely performed.

This neglect does not appeal to the intelligence of thoughtful people. Science is not helping by merely asserting its conclusions independent of evidence and demonstration.

In summary, the institutions of modern society are not teaching us to Think in a scientific age filled with enormous complexity. Today it takes twelve years (thirteen years in Germany) to prepare children to enter society and become reasonable citizens, yet who teaches children these vital principles of right reason? Can reasonable citizens be made without teaching principles of reason? And is perhaps, the absence of education in right reason the reason why our society has so much unreasonable behavior?

The rationale is this; if a reasonable society is to more to be desired than an unreasonable one, then a reasonable suggestion is that we begin to teach principles of right reason to all society. This seems reasonable to me.

This is no more than saying we need to learn principles of Thought to Think, a cause equal to the effect, a spark to start a fire, the right-sized spanner to fit the nut, enough water to satisfy the thirst, sufficient money to pay the bill, an identity to match the description, a mind to match a body, a higher order of Thinking to match a higher order of Practice, a content to match the curriculum, and a means commensurate with the desired outcome. A reasonable society must begin with educating its members in the principles of right reason. This seems too simple a premise to deny and too important an issue to simply ignore.

The absence of a Global Thinking Program is to leave its citizens without a rational guide, public pilot, social map, community compass or personal plan.

To my mind General courses of formal thought should be promoted by every public institution in the society. If I was a politician I would propose to begin a political Thinking Party, a party committed to no single ideology, but committed to solutions supported by the best reasoning from documented facts producing the greatest benefit .

We need reasonable leaders, reasonable business people, reasonable waiters, reasonable lawyers, reasonable clergy, reasonable doctors, reasonable nurses, reasonable cooks, reasonable mechanics, reasonable teachers, reasonable bus drivers, reasonable train drivers, reasonable police officers, reasonable dentists, reasonable citizens, reasonable parents, reasonable children; people who Think and who know how and why they Think. Why does no definite public institution teach principles of reason?

The time has come to talk about Thinking. The purpose of this modest blogspot is to do precisely that; to Advocate the need to teach Thinking, the reasons for teaching it, the content of it, the application of it to all areas of human activity, and to document all the happy results that attend its perfect execution.

-ooOOoo-

morri.thinkingman