Although I am bold enough to spout off on this blog, let\u2019s be clear that I make no claims to being ultimately right. Often there is a varying degree of uncertainty.<\/p>\n
What brought this to mind is that I value a degree of intellectual humility. Not so much as to inhibit self-expression, but not so little that I seem sure of what I\u2019m saying. I invite disagreement and I have no doubt that in some circumstances I may either overstate or understate my case, or perhaps I left out some consideration.<\/p>\n
What brings this up as a subject is that a person I know asserts with authority and it bothers me. It seems as if there should be an optimal balance. There are demagogues, talk show hosts, others who speak with authority. It\u2019s as if they have no doubts about what they affirm. I mention this because as a principle of rhetoric\u2014the art of influencing people\u2014then people rarely comment on this. It slips through their critical faculties. It projects charisma, clarity, certainty. The temptation in the audience is that if the speaker is that passionate and convinced, that\u2019s convincing. Instead, this degree of conviction should be a red flag.<\/p>\n
Many people who are more unsure of their grasp on \u201cthe answers\u201d tend to be impressed with those who speak with great conviction: It\u2019s as if they unconsciously think, \u201cWhoa. If I\u2019m uncertain, I admit it. They are like me, so their not admitting uncertainty suggests that without doubt they are right on.\u201d<\/p>\n
Over the years, though, I\u2019ve discovered that it\u2019s entirely possible to be absolutely sure about things that are absolutely wrong! There are many people whose emotional makeup can deliver conviction and overcome uncertainty. I\u2019m reminded of a saying of a 19th century humorist: \u201cIt ain\u2019t what ya don\u2019t know that gits ya into trouble; it\u2019s the stuff you know fer sure what ain\u2019t so!\u201d So I\u2019m passing this along for those who haven\u2019t discovered this yet\u2014indeed, to myself as a young man.<\/p>\n
It was hard for me to conceive of this level of hypocrisy or intellectual dishonesty but it turns out they\u2019re for the most part quite sincere: They\u2019ve convinced themselves of the nobility or rightness of their position. That it doesn\u2019t jibe with the facts is irrelevant: They wouldn\u2019t lower themselves to check those facts. This isn\u2019t just in politics\u2014it\u2019s in ordinary families in which some people are unable to consider the idea that they may be mistaken. If it feels so, it must be so. The unconscious obliges with layers of rationalization that can be thrown up with remarkable alacrity.<\/p>\n
So the scientific attitude in which one tests out a hypothesis, almost tries to find out if one is mistaken, is not all that common in general society. More common is the simple vulnerability to feelings: If it feels so, it must be so. If I\u2019m uncertain at a certain level, and I get angry, the increased intensity, the indignation, convinces me that I\u2019m right.<\/p>\n
(I know, it\u2019s a turn and a twist from the words to the song, \u201cI whistle a happy tune\u201d from the Broadway musical, The King and I.\u201d But the self-reinforcing dynamic is similar!)<\/p>\n
In summary, we should challenge and question those who seem unwilling to be challenged, who have no capacity to admit that they might be mistaken. We should not tolerate their bluster.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Although I am bold enough to spout off on this blog, let\u2019s be clear that I make no claims to being ultimately right. Often there is a varying degree of uncertainty. What brought this to mind is that I value a degree of intellectual humility. Not so much as to inhibit self-expression, but not so […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,20,18,11,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-778","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-autobiographical","category-follies","category-history","category-literacy","category-wisdom-ing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blatner.com\/adam\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/778"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blatner.com\/adam\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blatner.com\/adam\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blatner.com\/adam\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blatner.com\/adam\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=778"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blatner.com\/adam\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/778\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":779,"href":"https:\/\/blatner.com\/adam\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/778\/revisions\/779"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blatner.com\/adam\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=778"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blatner.com\/adam\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=778"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blatner.com\/adam\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=778"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}