I recently read an article by David Perell called ‘How Philosophers think‘. In that, he has written in detail about how Philosophers dissect, break down and question the framework of an idea. They strive to think beyond what is visible.
There is so much happening every day in the news, on social media, and in the environment around us. There is more pressure or rather a social need to have opinions on everything and so we jump to conclusions. How do we jump to conclusions? We grab at any information that is within reach, that is being talked about by a group whom we associate with. We echo what we hear around us. We use that to quickly form an “opinion” and jump to a conclusion. This is like the ‘Spotlight Effect’ which means that we pay attention to only that which is visible to us because let’s face it, that’s easy.
The internet has information about everything. It actually should be very easy to find different views on a topic and study it. Then why is that not a common case? Is it that we don’t have time to do it? David Perell pointed out something very interesting.
The assumptions of a culture determine the aperture of mainstream thinking.
Not only do we subconsciously form opinions in accordance with the culture we have grown up in but we also find it more comfortable. We feel secure when our views match with our friends, family, and colleagues. It creates a sense of harmony. That is why most of us find it hard if not unnecessary to question what we see. And that is how we end up with what we call “culture”. Have you heard of statements like “It’s not in our culture to…” or “I have not seen that happening”? A counter question to these should be “Why?”
We should have the ability to know which part of our bias is because of our religion, profession, family, friends, favourite celebrities, books, TV shows, etc. Critical thinking is a superpower everyone should strive to hone and try to think like philosophers.
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