Perils of pop philosophy
In general, I agree very much with this author -- I too find that the more I read about various things, the less confidence that I have that I "really get it" -- and that odd word "epistemology" (the study of meaning/knowing) pops into my head more and more often. Sadly, the problem discussed here is MUCH worse when the "dominant cultural vision" is in power. When Bush was President, the MSM was quick to point out how "overly simplistic" or "wrong headed", or just plain WRONG most all his thoughts and polices were. Thus, BO.
But wait, just because trying to rocket skyward at 10K MPH forever may not be a "perfect solution", doesn't making trying to plunge earthward at 100K MPH a perfect solution either. There is a HIGH potential that MANY alternatives are at least equally, if not much worse. The set of wrong answers is always infinity, and the set of "good / correct" answers is always much much smaller, often even coming close to ONE. (as in 2+2=4).
reminded us, a certain perversity here: People who actually know
something are more likely to be fairly tentative and circumspect, while
people ill-informed enough to think everything is quite simple will be
confident they know all they need to.
I find that paragraph particularly scary as I think of BO. In my life to date, I've never seen anyone with the combination of as much arrogant certainty across a broad set of topics and as much general credulousness from the broad swath of Americans. This is a very dangerous combination.
In general, I agree very much with this author -- I too find that the more I read about various things, the less confidence that I have that I "really get it" -- and that odd word "epistemology" (the study of meaning/knowing) pops into my head more and more often. Sadly, the problem discussed here is MUCH worse when the "dominant cultural vision" is in power. When Bush was President, the MSM was quick to point out how "overly simplistic" or "wrong headed", or just plain WRONG most all his thoughts and polices were. Thus, BO.
But wait, just because trying to rocket skyward at 10K MPH forever may not be a "perfect solution", doesn't making trying to plunge earthward at 100K MPH a perfect solution either. There is a HIGH potential that MANY alternatives are at least equally, if not much worse. The set of wrong answers is always infinity, and the set of "good / correct" answers is always much much smaller, often even coming close to ONE. (as in 2+2=4).
Those are real enough, but there’s also the problem that the general
glut of information and opinion makes it disconcertingly easy to kid
yourself about how well you understand a particular topic. (My friend
Michael Moynihan refers sarcastically to “Google pundits”
who affect deep understanding after plucking a few talking points from
a search—a sin I’m sure I’ve committed myself on occasion.) It’s
something of a cliché, but the older I get, the more I find that
learning more about an area where I once held a strong opinion will
often mean realizing just how limited my own understanding is. No doubt
if you look back to the earliest days of this blog, you’ll find me
ranging across a much broader array of topics with much more
confidence. There is, as Yeats
reminded us, a certain perversity here: People who actually know
something are more likely to be fairly tentative and circumspect, while
people ill-informed enough to think everything is quite simple will be
confident they know all they need to.
I find that paragraph particularly scary as I think of BO. In my life to date, I've never seen anyone with the combination of as much arrogant certainty across a broad set of topics and as much general credulousness from the broad swath of Americans. This is a very dangerous combination.
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