751 DAYS LEFT.... THE PRINCIPLE OF EPISTEMIC HUMILITY.. The word episteme means “intellectually certain knowledge.” To be Americans, we must be willing to bestow freedom on others by allowing their ideas to be heard, admitting that we do not know everything and can always benefit from a different point of view. This is called “epistemic humility.” What America is losing is its tradition of prizing the tolerance of differences. Students must learn to endure, and even appreciate, viewpoints which may create cognitive dissonance in their minds. Without the valuing of differences, there can be little creativity of thought that will be of benefit to society.... Academia today has become an over-credentialed engine of indoctrination. If left unchallenged, freedom of expression in America is in danger. Once asked ,Mr. Bradbury ,if he thought there could ever be book-burning in America. He responded by saying, “There is no need to burn any books. If you want to prevent people from learning what’s in the books, you just have to get people to stop reading them.” He then commented that I have, on numerous occasions, asked progressive teachers if they had seen a particular report on Fox News, only to hear the reply that they would never watch Fox News! “Well, there you have it, then,” remarked Mr. Bradbury, “That’s what I’m talking about. Self-censorship.” This disheartening willingness of progressives towards self-censorship puts a chilling effect into play. Entire areas of discussion are rendered off-limits. Conservatives tend to watch progressive media, although the ideas touted are generally abhorrent in their tendencies towards statist control. But freedom-minded conservatives still want to know what progressives are saying. Progressives, however, too often seem closed to the ideas of others. They seem startled by the audacity of libertarian-minded conservatives who do not so readily accept progressive dogma. Equally surprising to progressives is the belief that problems should be solved with the most freedom possible; that people should try to solve issues among themselves first, before bringing others into the mix; and that government intervention should be way down the list of strategies to help facilitate matters. This unwillingness to participate in a civil society, that puts people first and government last, exacerbates matters. To conservatives, progressives appear too eager to have a parental government step in to solve problems, rather than work things out among people. Progressives trust government, whereas conservatives trust people......
Posted on: Tue, 30 Dec 2014 17:14:08 +0000
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