Up@dawn 2.0

Monday, November 21, 2016

Open-mindedness

On the question about how we can apply Plato's teaching to our lives, I believe the answer lies in Goldstein's assertion about what he has taught us: to never rest assured that our views are completely sound. We can apply this teaching to everything. We can challenge the ideas presented to us, as Plato has done many times in his journey through the modern world, no matter how stupid we are deemed for them. The opposite is true as well: we can surrender our own certainties to the ideas of others, even if we have been sure in the past that our views are as solid as diamond. Keeping this open-minded attitude will allow you the greatest exposure to both information and knowledge. This is another thing we have learned from Plato that we must be willing to apply to our lives: the difference between knowledge and information. It's important to know that when you are told a piece of information, it does not simply become knowledge. Being informed does not equate to knowing. For example, a mathematician could inform me about a formula he has just devised, but until I perceive the formula for what it is, for what it means, - until I truly understand it - I do not know it. And even when I do know it, I must be open for another mathematician to challenge the formula with one of greater truth and accept his instead, regardless of how well I know the first one. These are the teachings of Plato that can be applied to my life: the teaching of an open mind, and the importance of turning information into knowledge through the process of contemplation.

(H2)

3 comments:

  1. I had not thought of Goldstien's Plato as encouraging Open-mindedness. It absolutely fits though, and it can most definitely be attributed to most aspects of our lives.

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  2. When Goldstein said that we should never rest assured that our views are completely sound, I believed her. I know this is true because unless it is a fact that w=e cannot disprove, all opinions are just that, opinions. They are beliefs that change with our understanding of the world around us and I myself, like everyone should be, am open-minded and will willingly look into new ideas and change my beliefs if i find these ideas make more sense than previous ones.

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  3. Incredible. Many would assume that critical thinking is a manner of assuming what your peers pressure you to concur is correct, however, true critical thinking is matter of perpetual self-evaluation.

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