tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26951738.post2658996120186957042..comments2024-03-28T19:14:33.619-07:00Comments on The Splintered Mind: If you want my opinion … (by guest blogger Keith Frankish)Eric Schwitzgebelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11541402189204286449noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26951738.post-85738646417791926062007-07-26T12:58:00.000-07:002007-07-26T12:58:00.000-07:00Hi JimParticipatory democracy may equate to openne...Hi Jim<BR/>Participatory democracy may equate to openness, but I don't think our current form of representative democracy does. In a party system, opinions are tribal badges and uncertainty entails a loss of political identity and effectiveness. We appear to have a culture of debate, but it's mainly histrionic opinion-mongering and the citizen's chief contribution is to choose between predefined options. This doesn't foster openness, nor the skills required for participatory democracy. Perhaps there is an internal analogy here too. If the most effective people in society define themselves by what they believe, then we'll find it hard to disown our own dogmatism. <BR/>Best, KeithAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26951738.post-79977280187556845652007-07-25T14:27:00.000-07:002007-07-25T14:27:00.000-07:00Hi KeithIt it could also be conceptualized that an...Hi Keith<BR/><BR/>It it could also be conceptualized that another name for democracy is openness. The idea that society does, in fact, have a system of cks and balances means, to me at least, that there are only provisional truths and that ideally what are system allows for is a kind of nuturance of time to allow differences of opinion to be played out endlessly.<BR/><BR/>The issue of having a functiong internal system of cks and balances<BR/>implies that internal impulses such as the move towards dogmatism are ultimately recognized as separate from self not as a part of a definition of self. Once such a recognition takes place, it perhaps becomes practically possible, if one chooses, to ck such impulses. The ideal result, on a personal level, as on a political level, is a movement toward openness.<BR/><BR/>You are certainly right that doubt is perceived as weakness in our culture which to me is a type of empirical proof that dogmatism is on the rise both internally and externally.<BR/><BR/>Take CareAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26951738.post-49649023294958866812007-07-25T04:39:00.000-07:002007-07-25T04:39:00.000-07:00Hi Jim Thanks for your comments. I'm sure you're r...Hi Jim <BR/><BR/>Thanks for your comments. I'm sure you're right that there are internal pressures for dogmatism too. For one thing, probabilistic reasoning is very hard – at least at a conscious level. We find it much easy to process unqualified premises. Getting into wilder speculation, I suppose it could be argued that democracy tends to promote internal dogmatism (each of us not only has a right to an opinion, but a civic duty to have one). <BR/><BR/>But one way or another, we have a culture where doubt is often perceived as weakness, and being well-informed is equated with having strong opinions. For my part, I'm inclined to think of opinions as a necessary evil. Sometimes one needs to stop thinking, take a view, and start acting. But forming an opinion on a topic involves ceasing to deliberate about it, and one shouldn't do that lightly. <BR/><BR/>Best, KeithAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26951738.post-20632579785621278042007-07-23T16:35:00.000-07:002007-07-23T16:35:00.000-07:00Hi KeithI've mentioned this to Eric a few times i...Hi Keith<BR/><BR/>I've mentioned this to Eric a few times in our discussions about internal speech in our stream of consciousness. Much of my internal speech is also extremely opinionated. And this phenomena plays nicely into a cultural setting were stong opinions are often rewarded.<BR/><BR/>Another reason provisional truths may be so unsettling is that such an agnostic stance is counter-cultural both externally(as you have indicated) and internally, when dealing with the largely dogmatic brain messages from the "Ministry of the Interior." <BR/><BR/>It strikes me that we my exist in a culture where the external system of cks and balances are under attack partially because the internal system of cks and balances(the ethical attempts to rein in our internal dogmatism) is also breaking down.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com