Hello fellow students!
I thought long and hard about what I wanted my theme to be for the purpose of this class but then I began to think much wider. As I listen to John Mayer's new album (which is phenomenal by the way, go get it!) it reminds me that his new record is about searching for the truth regardless of where it may lead us. Sometimes it may lead us to conclusions that we don't necessarily agree with. I want to dedicate all the posts on this blog to the theme of truth regardless of ideology or personal preference. I hope y'all will join me in the same search in order to elevate the political discourse a bit more.
As Will McAvoy, from the Newsroom, would say, "I'm on a mission to civilize!" Let's all try to civilize the debate.
Ernesto,
ReplyDeleteThat is an excellent theme around which to center your blog. You are quite right in that so many of us stop short of the truth when it begins to collide with our deeply ingrained beliefs, notions, or suppositions. Going to the end and finding the truth is an arduous process on the mind to say the least (think Nietzsche).
How possible will it be to dissociate ideology from the pursuit of knowledge? It is difficult to say given that ideology is basically our long-developed and formulated worldview resulting from indoctrination and personal discovery. It all depends on the individuals ability to re-adjust the center of his or her world (as we have done in science over the last century, eventually discovering that there is no center and that everything is the center). Coming to grips with the instability or incompatibility of one's worldview and the complexities of reality and "civilizing ourselves" may be the first step towards "civilizing the debate," something that is greatly in need as you have aptly pointed out.