Tuesday, November 18, 2008
No Title
In A Discourse on Method, self-intellect is cast as the most important of human traits. Descartes speaks out against those who accept the word of others or the church without first asking the most important question of "why?" When looking at the skyline of A Discourse on Method, the most prominent building that stands out is logical thought. While Descartes uses the term self-intellect, a more appropriate term should be logical thought. The ultimate goal of his writings is to encourage the population to think through the basis of what they believe. Rather than just accept the religious teachings as truth and believing anything the church says, Descartes wants people to consider what the teachings imply and judge on a case by case basis which teachings are worth listening to and which should be disregarded. The most relevant modern day example comes with the government. Some people blindly accept government policy as it is given. However men like Stephen Colbert and John Stewart act as Descartes. These men ask American citizens to look at their blind faith in the government and reconsider it. They ask vital questions about why certain policies have been made and make even the most carefully crafted policy seem ridiculous. Their careful analysis of the government helps people realize the ridiculous nature of what they are trained to think. This training can happen unintentionally just from people choosing to ignore what is happening in the world. Just like Descartes, Stewart and Colbert find the most important thing to be the ability to think for oneself and develop valid arguments to back up one’s own opinions.
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