critical/logical/objective thinking...

[Peter Kropotkin]

there are some around here who proclaim that
what is needed is ''critical'' thinking or otherwise called
"objective" thinking but let us be critical/objective about that
claim....

to be blunt, there is no such thing as critical thinking or
objective thinking...and why?

because what we have is our indoctrinations and childhood
beliefs...and we cannot engage in any type of critical thinking
or objective thinking because it is, for the most part, just
a rehash of our childhood indoctrinations...we hold beliefs
such as god, freedom, equality/justice, truth based on
our childhood indoctrinations.. our education, our family
upbringing, the state/country we lived in, our media
and the church we went to.... to have actual objective/
critical thinking requires us to overcome our childhood indoctrinations
and education...or to put it another way, we hold our beliefs because
we were taught those beliefs by our state/parents/society/family...
and for the most part, we continue to hold those childhood beliefs/
indoctrinations all our lives...a person who believes in god, chances
are grow up in a family where belief in god was present...and those
who don't believe, chances are grew up in a family that didn't believe...
the difference lies in how many are able to overcome their childhood
indoctrinations...when Nietzsche speaks of overcoming, that is what
he is talking about... overcoming what we were taught by our family,
the schools, the state, the media, our society...
overcoming is tough.. and very painful.. we who have overcome,
have been damaged by our overcoming... it is a lonely walk,
to walk apart and separate from one's family, state, society,
and church...having made that walk when I was an anarchist for
over a decade.. I was radicalized by Ronald Raygun in 1980...
and then going from the family beliefs in moderate democrat
to full on anarchism.. I lived the life of anarchism as a ''way of life"
until years later when I made another choice.. of becoming a
fairly radical democrat.. I hold to everything that Marx held to...
with some exceptions of having no private property and some days,
some days, I am ok with that and other days, I have questions....
and I don't believe in this idea of classes being the end all, be all...
the final state won't be a classless society... that will just be another
state in a long line of states...

anyway, to return to my subject... when we think we are being
objective, or having critical thinking, we are just working those
thoughts through the lens of our childhood indoctrinations
and childhood beliefs...we cannot change what we were educated
with.. we see everything through the eyes of our childhood indoctrinations...
anarchist are evil, that is an childhood indoctrination.. and there
isn't enough critical thinking that will change that belief...

we run our logical/critical/ objective thinking through
the lens of our childhood indoctrinations... we aren't really
engaged with critical thinking as much as we are engaged
with what we were indoctrinated with...critical thinking
is just another way of engaging with our childhood indoctrinations,
but we pretend that it is somehow "critical" or ''logical'
but really it is an review of what we were taught/educated
with as children... to say, I am engaging a critical/objective
thinking means, I am reviewing the facts in light of my childhood
educations and indoctrinations...does this new evidence fit into
my childhood education/indoctrinations? then it is true..
and if it doesn't fit into my childhood education/indoctrinations,
then it is false.. that is what passes for critical/logical/objective
thinking... think about the most "objective" critical philosophy
in philosophy... which is Descartes method.. and even that
runs into his childhood education/indoctrination...
because after all he "critically" thinks about,
he still 'slips" god into this performance piece..
by saying that our thinking is still 'guaranteed"
by god... in fact, I believe he even uses that word...
that we are covered because god still overlooks all we do...
even though in Descartes method, god never actually enters into
the picture... reread it... and at no point in his thinking does
he bring about god as part of the final aspect in which the mind brings
about the "Cognito, ergo sum" and god isn't involved... in which
the body is one thing and the mind is another.. and how the two connect?
is a mystery but still somehow still ''guaranteed" by god that they
are connected...

in even Descartes "critical" thinking he couldn't escape his childhood
indoctrinations of belief in god...if he had, he would have denied god
and his presence in the universe... but that would have meant that
Descartes overcame his childhood indoctrinations/education...
and given his time and place, that was impossible...but we live in
a different time and a different place.... we can and must overcome
our indoctrinations of there being a god, of there being a metaphysical
aspect to the universe... but that is another question for another time...

Kropotkin

[Iwannaplato]

Well, he's not interested in interaction, but it seems a rather mixed message.
We can't be objective.
We can be objective but getting there is painful.

I agree with the second idea, especially if these means being able to get beyond the indoctrinations of our youth. Life brings experiences that challenge those beliefs. One can seek out exceptions and deliberately challenge hand-me-downs.

Even a single trauma can blow out a hull-breaching, sink the damn indoctrination ship hole.

And there are many baby steps processes.

[Agent Smith]

"We're logical."

"Oh yeah!? What's this then, eh, eh?"

"This is ... this is ... a bomb. Obviously, pffft!"

"What??!! This is a bomb!!??"

"Yes, a time bomb!"

"A time bomb?! What time is it?!"

"5 seconds before it detonates. Time to ... 3 seconds ... 2 ..." Kaboom!

5 hours later ...

"Was this Tom?"

"Yes, he never went anywhere without that amulet ... of protection."

"Harry?"

"Somewhere in there."

"Family?"

"A wife, two kids."

"Sigh. Were they logical?"

"They were."

"Are we?"

"Yes, we are."