Descartes or the Mob
I can relate to Descartes’ quest to overcome his conceptual framework and the subsequent ideas (true and false) that flowed from such a framework.
Some years ago I was struck by the large number of falsehoods that I had accepted as true in my childhood, and by the highly doubtful nature of the whole ediface that I had subsequently based upon them.
I can appreciate his attempt to explore and possibly overcome those false ideas that had been handed down to him before he had the ability or the desire to question them. His journey led him to battle skepticism as he cast doubt upon virtually everything. While I have not journeyed quite that far (and am in general resistant to this form of radical skepticism) I am definitely on a similar quest. Following a path blazed by thinkers far more proficient than myself I want to discover, if possible, what is true and what is mere opinion. Those before and after Descartes wanted to find out those things that were really true. So it is with me. I’d like to think that as I discover things that don’t meet the criteria for justifiable belief I will, for the most part, toss them out. I can also admit that there are ideas that are as yet unjustified but that I hope will be at some point in the future.
What is curious to observe is how tightly people hold onto ideas that are not their own. By that I mean they uncritically accept what they have been taught or adopt some way of viewing the world that they have not truly investigated. Some would say this is the very epitome of unjustified belieft. What’s funny is these ideas are thought, despsite all this, to be correct or even true. These ideas are nothing more than preferences or hopeful expectations disguised as truth or justified by popularity. Of course there is nothing wrong with preferences or hopeful expecations, but elevating their status to beyond that is a mistake. Look around, listen and you will see yourself or others in a similar situation. You can decide if you want to be a Descartes or part of the mob. To avoid artificial duality I guess a better question is what percentage of you is the mob and Descartes. I’d like to think that the closer we are to Descartes (in the questioning/seeking sense, not pure skepticism) the better off we can be.
