![]() ![]() Many people are discomfited, or even outraged, by philosophical questions. There are always thoughts that stand opposed to it. Since there is no telling in advance where it may lead, reflection can be seen as dangerous. Doing this properly is doing one more piece of conceptual engineering. Reflection enables us to step back, to see our perspective on a situation as perhaps distorted or blind, at the very least to see if there is argument for preferring our ways, or whether it is just subjective. When these beliefs involve the sleep of reason, critical awakening is the antidote. It is because of ideas about what the others are like, or who we are, or what our interests or rights require, that we go to war, or oppress others with a good conscience, or even sometimes acquiesce in our own oppression by others. In the end, it is ideas for which people kill each other. We are typically ready to believe that our ways, our beliefs, our religion, our politics are better than theirs, or that our God-given rights trump theirs or that our interests require defensive or pre-emptive strikes against them. Convictions are infectious, and people can make others convinced of almost anything. ![]() There are always people telling us what we want, how they will provide it, and what we should believe. Goya believed that many of the follies of mankind resulted from the “sleep of reason”. …One of the series of satires etched by the Spanish painter Goya is entitled “The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters”. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |