Re: LOGO-L> Why is accurate thinking so unpopular?

[Bob Gorman <bgorman@kncell.org>]

Tom,

At 02:26 AM 12/29/98 -0500, you wrote:

>Bob Gorman wrote:

>>It's not that people can't see what's going on around them,

>>or understand it, but rather because (?) of higher level needs

>>(ego and identity) they actively avoid sensing and interpreting

>> what is going on right in front of them. To stop believing in

>> an illusion, one has to admit they were originally fooled or

>>conned or whatever, and indeed may still be.

>

>Am I correct in assuming you believe there is one interpretation that is

>accurate and there are others that are not?

Exactly the opposite! To me, accepting one answer, and never re-examining it

but only defending it against all others, is the essence of illusion (and

authoritarian dogmatism). I believe it is far healthier to look at people,

events, etc. from as many viewpoints as possible.

>I'm curious what you think about the argument that everything is an

>illusion, that facts are products of subjective experience, that we each

>construct very personal realities using our senses and our ability to

>assimilate and accommodate, and that my reality is necessarily different

>from yours because our experiences (and maybe our sensory apparatus) are

>different.

I'm not interested in agreeing with or debating arguments, I care about people

and how we can make their lives more enjoyable, rewarding, enriching etc.

My personal belief is that all new knowledge starts when individuals,

usually highly motivated to solve some pressing problem, asks a new

question. They then play around with the new question, looking at it from

all sides, and even above and below, and definitely from a personal

perspective, with all the strengths and weaknesses of their senses, beliefs,

attitudes, culture etc. Then as useful approaches come together, they create

some new distinctions or connections, i.e. new knowledge. If, after testing,

the new knowledge works, then they attempt, however imperfectly, to share

that knowledge with others. On my website, the sub-page

http://www.kncell.org/tools.html explains my desire to switch from an

Objective-Subjective paradigm to a Personal-Shared paradigm.

>I'm curious what implications your statement might have for Piagetian learning.

I have found Piaget's assimilation and accommodation model, a very useful

starting place, to discover how we learn. However, I found it too locked

into Aristotle's categories, and the greater importance he places on them

than on individual experience, and also the passive model of learning and

living. Unlike the stimulus-response model of some so-called scientists, I

am a living, breathing human being. I am not the sum of my responses to

stimuli which randomly attack me all day. Rather when I leave the house in

the morning, I go forth with a purpose, a drive, a passion, which is usually

not to adapt to reality, but rather to change and improve it! The world can

then respond to my stimuli! Again, my page, referenced above, goes into

more detail than I think anyone here is interested in.

Make a great day!

Bob

"To get NEW Answers, you must ask NEW Questions!"
- Bob Gorman