A guide to grown-up thinking.A simple antidote to the infantile infantile /in·fan·tile/ (in´fin-til) pertaining to an infant or to infancy. in·fan·tile adj. 1. Of or relating to infants or infancy. 2. habit of 'believing whatever we want to believe' can be found in philosopher Karl Popper's theory of scientific logic. This states that scientific theories don't become set-in-stone facts that are no longer open to question. What becomes accepted as scientific knowledge are only those theories that have survived the filter of what he called 'falsification'. And even these remain subject to a self-correcting process of constant review. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] NI illustrator POLYP polyp, in medicine, a benign tumor occurring in areas lined with mucous membrane such as the nose, gastrointestinal tract (especially the colon), and the uterus. Some polyps are pedunculated tumors, i.e. leads us through the box canyons of infantalization to reach the critical peaks of grown up thinking. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] In this philosophy knowledge becomes a process of travelling towards the truth, rather than truth being a final destination at which you arrive, and then stop moving. But it can only function with theories that can be falsified. Those constructed in such a way that there are no circumstances under which they can be shown to be false have no ability to 'move forward'. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Applying this view of science to our own political and cultural beliefs is effectively declaring an 'open season' on all intellectual certainty. It dares us to question and, if needs be, abandon those core beliefs that give us comfort or reassurance. Possessing a belief system that can never be shown to be wrong is immensely powerful and reassuring-but innately dangerous. Any kind of dogma is the enemy of radical thinking. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Infantile reactions are a habit the establishment is happy for us to acquire. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] A population that loses its ability to think critically is one that's easy to manipulate-from the simple level of convincing us that brand x will achieve an enhancement of our quality of life it's not really able to supply, to the more serious level of convincing us that a regime our government wants to attack (for economic reasons) must be attacked because it harbours weapons of mass destruction Weapons that are capable of a high order of destruction and/or of being used in such a manner as to destroy large numbers of people. Weapons of mass destruction can be high explosives or nuclear, biological, chemical, and radiological weapons, but exclude the means of transporting or . 1st democrats were Scientists/atheists A strong and healthy democracy relies upon and benefits from a high level of critical thought to keep it functioning and growing. In this way it shares the same qualities as Popper's theory of science-the ability to remove an outdated theory echoes the ability to remove an unwanted government. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] But who, it's fair to ask, actually wants to exist in an intellectual state of uncertainty? One in which we have to be constantly ready to question or abandon our core beliefs? An adult. A mature individual or society should be able to change their minds in the light of convincing evidence-creating a dynamic intellectual and political culture, rather than a stagnant one. Stagnation Stagnation A period of little or no growth in the economy. Economic growth of less than 2-3% is considered stagnation. Sometimes used to describe low trading volume or inactive trading in securities. Notes: A good example of stagnation was the U.S. economy in the 1970s. occurs when citizens accept the infantile role of passively absorbing a pre-digested, received wisdom handed down by 'authority' in all of its various guises: social, political or religious. PARENT? Being able to ask and answer the question 'Why do you believe what you believe, and under what circumstances would you change that belief?' is the equivalent of having a parliament of competing ideas inside your head, rather than a dictatorship of fixed dogmas. Politicians who can appeal to our need for a reassuring, dogmatic dog·mat·ic adj. 1. Relating to, characteristic of, or resulting from dogma. 2. Characterized by an authoritative, arrogant assertion of unproved or unprovable principles. See Synonyms at dictatorial. , infantile certainty are tapping into a powerful force-the retreat into unreason that fascism so ably represented. The certainties of bigotry Bigotry See also Anti-Semitism. Beaumanoir, Sir Lucas de prejudiced ascetic; Grand Master of Templars. [Br. Lit.: Ivanhoe] Bunker, Archie middle-aged bigot in television series. , and the comfort of abasing oneself to the alpha male authority figure regresses us back to a childish mass acceptance of received authority. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] WHO ARE YOU TO TELL ME TO QUESTION AUTHORITY? Questioning authority and reaching out for what is just and true is the move into an intellectual adulthood-away from the certainty of conforming to what others tell us is right. But it comes with an expensive price tag-the task of constructing and maintaining an ethical world view without the crutch crutch (kruch) a staff, ordinarily extending from the armpit to the ground, with a support for the hand and usually also for the arm or axilla; used to support the body in walking. crutch n. of certainty. No wonder religion is such a powerful, virus like idea. It relieves us of the adult obligation of having to create a convincing moral and intellectual model of the world for ourselves. CRUELTY/MACHISMO AS INFANTILE? Ethics has roots in the ability to see beyond our own needs, and accept the inconvenient truth that other people are not objects, but have an inner life of their own. A huge step in a child's development is acquiring the ability to distinguish between itself and others-when it comes to realize that 'If I feel pain, then they feel pain'. The brutalization bru·tal·ize tr.v. bru·tal·ized, bru·tal·iz·ing, bru·tal·iz·es 1. To make cruel, harsh, or unfeeling. 2. To treat cruelly or harshly. process of dehumanizing the enemy as a prerequisite for war is reminiscent of a retreat back into this childlike child·like adj. Like or befitting a child, as in innocence, trustfulness, or candor. childlike Adjective like a child, for example in being innocent or trustful Adj. 1. state-a denial of the reality of the pain of others. Cynicism about human nature offers us the comfort blanket of believing that poverty and suffering are inevitable. It absolves us of the difficult adult task of trying to change the world for the better. Despite the complete lack of evidence to support it, and its impossibility to falsify falsify, v to forge; to give a false appearance to anything, as to falsify a record. , the privately-held belief that there's no point in trying to change anything remains a powerful crutch of the status quo [Latin, The existing state of things at any given date.] Status quo ante bellum means the state of things before the war. The status quo to be preserved by a preliminary injunction is the last actual, peaceable, uncontested status which preceded the pending controversy. . The belief that 'it's just what people are like' acts as permission to carry on with a selfish yuppie lifestyle. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The price of political optimism is to abandon our old ways of thinking. A loyalty to dogma kills dead our mental evolution as a species, and seeks to keep our culture in a fixed state. We need to be able to change and develop in an organic way. Is our reaction to climate change a sign of our political infantalism? We ignore the problem, hoping our political mummies and daddies will make it better for us, instead of taking action ourselves? This retreat from reason is as childish as hiding our heads under the blanket and hoping the monsters will just go away. The science writers Carl Sagan Carl Edward Sagan (November 9 1934 – December 20 1996) was an American astronomer and astrochemist and a highly successful popularizer of astronomy, astrophysics, and other natural sciences. and Ann Druyan Ann Druyan (born June 13, 1949) is an author and media producer known for her involvement in many projects aiming to popularize and explain science. In her writings, Druyan has stressed the idea that people can have a sense of awe and wonder about the unity of the cosmos without (1) suggested that the moral maturing of our culture represents a slow and precarious evolutionary path away from the blind obedience our prehuman ancestors felt towards the alpha male of the tribe-such an inbuilt in·built adj. Built-in; inherent. inbuilt Adjective (of a quality or feeling) present from the beginning: an inbuilt prejudice Adj. 1. urge remanifests itself in our deference to political and social leaders today. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] What would a fully mature version of Homo Sapiens Homo sapiens (Latin; “wise man”) Species to which all modern human beings belong. The oldest known fossil remains date to c. 120,000 years ago—or much earlier (c. be like? One that thought independently, accepted its moral obligations to others, and had an adult ability to plan for a sustainable future..? Are we capable of evolving into 'Homo Ethicus'? (1) Sagan, Carl Sagan, Carl (Edward) (born Nov. 9, 1934, Brooklyn, N.Y., N.Y., U.S.—died Dec. 20, 1996, Seattle, Wash.) U.S. astronomer and science writer. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. and Druyan, Ann 'Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors: A Search for Who We Are' 1993 |
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