Get a life; An intellectual life

[coberst]

This is a post I placed in one of Brights forums. I think all individuals interested in balancing the influence projected by religion might wish to consider such an effort.

I began, in my mid-forties, to develop an “intellectual life�. An “intellectual life� contains two elements: a critical thinker who is also a heavy user of the local college library.

I have come to the conclusion that very few of our citizens, after formal education, engage in any intellectual activity beyond that called for by their career. This lack of a disinterested intellectual component in the life of our citizens is unfortunate for all of the obvious reasons.

I find much effort directed toward developing enthusiasm for critical thinking in youngsters but nothing directed to the adult. This tends to accentuate the error that I perceive in our education system. Our educational system tends to indoctrinate the population to the idea that, after formal education, disinterested intellectual pursuits are of no value.

The first half of our life is generally laid out for us and we develop small variations of the program. It is in the second half of our life, after age forty, that we have the opportunity to energetically “examine life�.

I would like to see an effort made to encourage adults to follow the advice of Socrates. Forget the allure that our culture constantly propagandizes and, instead of constantly gathering more stuff, gather more knowledge.

Critical thinking without a constant inflow of stimulation in the form of new knowledge creates only boredom and self-absorption. Reading books of substance and quality, especially history, is to a critical mind much like intelligence is to the success of a well organized and disciplined army. The critical thinker develops the question and the reading thinker develops the answers.

My hope is that somewhere along the way every adult will decide to add a new dimension to his or her daily routine. I am convinced that those who do so will never regret having developed an “intellectual life�.

I think that a campaign driven by Brights could have a favorable impact both for our society and also to accentuate the nature of what a Bright is.

I would like to see this organization develop a campaign with the message “Get a life: an intellectual life�.

In his treatise on ethics Kant developed the Categorical Imperative. Kant formulated this fundamental, rational, principle in various ways. “Act only according to that maxim by which you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law� is a purely formal or logical statement and expresses the condition of the rationality of conduct (this I take from Britannica).

I conclude that every sentient being would agree that the development of an intellectual life is universally desirable.

[Rhaedas]

Good post. I think it can be too easy to settle into a niche, whether it be a professional one, or one's preference in such things as books or music. One should never cease to be a student in a variety of subjects.

I need to practice that more myself, and stop letting life get in the way of intellectual growth... :)

[Plognark]

I have come to the conclusion that very few of our citizens, after formal education, engage in any intellectual activity beyond that called for by their career. This lack of a disinterested intellectual component in the life of our citizens is unfortunate for all of the obvious reasons.

Biggest understatement EVER ;)

I think people should take pride in being an intellectual nerd. I sure do :D
I do my part to try and get my friends and coworkers motivated as well, successfully so far.

[Worldtraveller]

Great post! I agree 100%, it's interesting that my wife (another freethinking atheist) had this exact same conversation just a few nights ago, after watching some news story where the reporter made some very bold, and patently wrong assertions about the influence of religion on American politics, and how the vast mojority of Americans who aren't too lazy to vote still are not really aware of the real issues facing the country.

And, I do practice what I 'preach'. :D

I currently am reading Darwin's Origin of Species (I forget which edition), and Michael Moore's Stupid White Men. Moore's book has prompted me do a fair bit of research on the internet, and cross checking of references, as he quotes quite a few statistics, and makes a lot of unsupported assumptions. For all that I enjoy his writing style and agree with the sentiment of what he's saying, he does fan the flames just as bad as some of the other media in this country.

So yeah, I agree, people tend to stop learning once ther formal education has ended, but what to do about it?? Ya got me.

Cheers,
Lane

[Straight Hate]

I lament the non-existence of a loosely compiled curriculum designed to meet this end (means?) :D

I have pretty much ruled out the idea of formal, post-secondary eductaion, though much of my personal time is spent reading popular scientific and philosophical texts. However, the lack of cohesion between subjects makes it very hard to focus on the task at hand - I'm almost thinking of researching my own curriculum of sorts (relevent topics within broadly defined areas, with specific authors in chronological order) to make things easier on myself.

[Mageth]

A great OP, coberst, and I agree completely. Well, except I'd add a few categories to history, or even suggest that you find one or two areas, subjects or even authors that interest you, whatever they are, and delve as deep into them as you can.

I more or less did just what you suggest in my forties, and my problem now is that there is too much I want to read, too many subjects/areas I'm interested in - different subjects in science, mythology, philosophy, the history of religion, etc. Having made some effort in intellectual pursuit before this time, but not enough, I find that my background (e.g. in philosophy) was a little weak, so I have a lot of catching up to do.

Interestingly, I found support for such a pursuit of an intellectual life in Joseph Campbell, in his model for leading a fulfilled life which he refers to as "following your bliss". He suggests, at one point, that you find an author/topic that really interests you and to devour as much of it as you can.