Essay: Accurate thinking

Information and comments on the essay:

Accurate thinking

From the book: Chum for Thought: Throwing Ideas into Dangerous Waters by David Satterlee

Find out more, including where to buy books and ebooks

Read or download this essay as a PDF file at: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B4eNv8KtePyKMV95WDFkc3I0YjQ/edit?usp=sharing

Heinrich #Scholz Walter R. #Fuchs, #Cybernetics for the Modern Mind

Chum For Thought:
Throwing Ideas into Dangerous Waters

Accurate thinking

I’ve been carrying this hand-written note around with me since high school. Note to parents: What is YOUR impressionable young boy or girl reading when they think you’re not looking?

“There are people who think in a way which I would simply call “accurate” thinking. They are people with persistent, highly controlled intellectual habits. These people can be recognized by four characteristics:

“They remain inexorably silent if they have nothing to say which is at least formulated in such a way that it could be tested.

“They only make assertions about something when whatever this may be will stand up to a possible subsequent test; with the reservation, however, that sometime in the distant future something could be discovered that might lead to a revaluation of their statement.

“They distinguish precisely in what they say between that which they can prove and that which they cannot prove.

“They object relentlessly to something being said in such a way that it cannot be tested, or if it can be tested it will not stand up to a rigorous repeat-test.”

Heinrich Scholz; mathematician, theologian

Quoted in:
Walter R. Fuchs, Cybernetics for the Modern Mind, p. 47, Rupert Hart-Davis Educational Publications and The Macmillan Company , 1971 (Translation)

 

Essay: Ayn Rand and the real parasites Have you swallowed the big fat lie?

Information and comments on the essay:

Ayn Rand and the real parasites Have you swallowed the big fat lie?

From the book: Chum for Thought: Throwing Ideas into Dangerous Waters by David Satterlee

Find out more, including where to buy books and ebooks

Read or download this essay as a PDF file at: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B4eNv8KtePyKekdLdF9iVjhBVlk/edit?usp=sharing

#AynRand #Politics #TeaParty 

Chum For Thought:
Throwing Ideas into Dangerous Waters

Ayn Rand and the real parasites: Have you swallowed the big fat lie?

Ayn Rand, in Atlas Shrugged, promotes the idea that, “The man at the top of the intellectual pyramid contributes the most to all those below him. … The man at the bottom who, left to himself, would starve in his hopeless ineptitude, contributes nothing to those above him, but receives the bonus of all their brains.” Really? And, are the richest businessmen the real “job creators?” No, and you’ve been told a whopper. Over and over, you’ve been told a big fat lie.

Do you remember company towns and company stores? Do you believe that the company was just creating jobs and looking out for the best interests of their employees? Do you believe that your niece, struggling to pay her bills with a part-time minimum-wage job, is too stupid to do any better? Is she so ignorant, irresponsible, and inept that she is incapable of contributing to the welfare of her family and community?

Do you believe that feudal lords or plantation owners were the praiseworthy “job creators” for the serfs and slaves of their time? Do you believe that the character of those who

Essay: A liberal education is needed to participate in democracy

Information and comments on the essay:

A liberal education is needed to participate in democracy

From the book: Chum for Thought: Throwing Ideas into Dangerous Waters by David Satterlee

Find out more, including where to buy books and ebooks

Read by the author:


Read or download this essay as a PDF file at:
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B4eNv8KtePyKTlY0R2M2MDIyT2M/edit?usp=sharing

Chum For Thought:
Throwing Ideas into Dangerous Waters

A liberal education is needed to participate in democracy

Our Democracy requires the participation of informed citizens. How do citizens become competent to become active in government, working to create a better country for their neighbors? Education at home and at school is a key factor.

A successful democracy assumes that people are basically good and decent and that they should make responsible choices for themselves. Without the general moral and intellectual capacity of its citizens, it would be impossible for a constitution to grant universal citizenship and self-governance.

Parents and schools are expected to bring out the best in our children. The best involves more than prescribed knowledge and obedience to authority; it includes self-knowledge, self-discipline, and the enduring desire to keep on learning. We hope to maximize every child’s potential. We want every person to have the liberty and ability to pursue the adventure of a productive and satisfying life. Further, we expect that the success of every person contributes to the collective success of our communities and our nation.

As children develop into mature adults, they should be able to understand their