Reason: Confidence In or Fear Of?

[coberst]

Reason: Confidence In or Fear Of?

Eureka, I now understand!

This morning I happened to turn on the TV at exactly 6 AM and my TV was tuned to Public Television and a program labeled Critical Thinking had just begun. The thirty minute program consisted of short answers by about a dozen individuals to the question “What is critical thinking? The individuals questioned varied from judges, school teachers, lawyers, college professors, writers, etc.; all of whom one might expect to be knowledgeable about the subject of critical thinking.

One interviewee said that to convince anyone to change their mind about anything I must first comprehend their fear of changing their mind. I thought about this for a few minutes and like a cartoon character, a light bulb appeared above my head. Here was the answer to the question I have been pondering for decades

Perhaps the most important thing we must comprehend about human nature is that humans fear a loss of self determination; humans fear that reason will inhibit their self-determination.

I grew up in a Catholic family and went to Catholic schools. The nuns taught us that we had a conscience (the moral sense of the blameworthiness of ones own behavior). This conscience would, when properly trained, help to keep us from doing bad stuff. Before we went to confession we were to ‘examine our conscience’; our conscience kept a firm record of these misdeeds that we must confess to the priest.

My understanding convinces me that most people fear the effects of reason. Many people fear reason just as a Catholic child fears conscience. Many people fear that reason will deprive them of self determination and certainty. Such a fear can be assuaged only by developing a confidence in reason.

Do you agree with my understanding or do you fear that I have lost my reason?